Nottingham Maternity and Neonatal Services

Simon Hoare Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments, and for talking about the shocking situation with her daughter’s baby that she managed to avert. She spoke about the inequalities, the racism and the fact of women being silenced, all of which come through very strongly in Donna Ockenden’s report. As I have explained, the taskforce I chair will now consider the full set of recommendations from that report, as well as the recommendations from Baroness Amos’s national review and other reviews and inquiries into what has happened in maternity services. That taskforce will produce a comprehensive plan of action that will cover the whole range of actions that need to be taken, because we know it will take more than one action, or even a small handful of actions, to transform maternity services and make them as they should be. This is a problem that goes very deep; it is systemic, cultural and deeply embedded, and a comprehensive plan will be required to change that.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

The Secretary of State and the shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew), are both to be congratulated on the tone and tenor with which they have approached this most sensitive of issues—it is in the very best tradition of this place. It also indicates, I hope, a preparedness to work across the two parties to bring forward speedy solutions to the horrors we are hearing about and have read about in the report.

May I ask the Secretary of State two direct questions? First, the management of bodies post mortem seems to fall between his Department and the Ministry of Justice. We have talked far too often about how to regulate that space.

[Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)]

indicated assent.

[Simon Hoare]

The hon. Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards) is in agreement. Can the Secretary of State’s Department now grip that issue and drive it forward in order to give certainty to all our people that there is dignity and decency for all in death?

Secondly, this issue clearly affects Nottinghamshire most acutely, but there are expectant parents across England today who will be worried about the level of service they can expect and about the outcomes for themselves and their child. What is the Secretary of State proposing to do to communicate with those people, to say that the Government are aware of this issue and are gripping it—that a shake-up is taking place and better services will be provided—as well as to give them some indication of what they can expect, and to give them comfort and confidence in what should be the most exciting period of their lives?

[James Murray]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his remarks, and for his tone and approach in encouraging cross-party working—he is absolutely right that that will be essential for making progress on this most important issue. I will consider the important point he has made about the Ministry of Justice and its remit in relation to what we have seen in mortuary services. As I said earlier, in a report full of shocking revelations, that inhumanity and lack of dignity left me truly aghast; it is almost unbelievable that it could have happened.

The hon. Gentleman also raises an important point about women and their families across the country using maternity services. While the conversation we are having today is of course about the failures in Nottingham, we know that most women will receive high-quality care, and the majority of the NHS workforce do an important job supporting them. We should make sure that is acknowledged in this difficult conversation. However, one of the changes we want to make immediately is extending Martha’s rule to maternity services right across the country, because we know it is something we can do now. Martha’s rule is a mechanism that has worked well in other parts of the NHS, and it will mean that when women and their families feel they are not being listened to, they will have a way to get an urgent, independent review of the care they are receiving.