Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of (a) BAME and (b) other stillbirths in the West Midlands region.

All maternity services have been asked to ensure that continuity of carer (CoC) is rolled out to women from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and for women from the most deprived communities. The overall target for March 2021 is 35% of all women should be on a continuity pathway with at least as many women from the BAME communities and the most deprived communities receiving CoC as white women.

Every maternity service in the National Health Service is actively implementing elements of the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle which comprises four key elements of care to support providers, commissioners and healthcare professionals to take action to reduce stillbirths.