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 help improve (a) maternity workplace cultures and (b) relationships between maternity staff and mothers.

Maternity and neonatal services have been supported to improve workplace culture through the Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme (PCLP), which all 152 perinatal sites participated in between October 2022 and March 2025. The programme promoted compassionate, inclusive, and collective leadership, and strengthened multidisciplinary working across obstetrics, midwifery, neonatology, and anaesthetics. An external evaluation demonstrated a meaningful contribution to strengthening relational leadership, improving understanding of local cultures, and creating the conditions for cultural improvement, although its wider and sustained impact has been constrained by operational pressures, structural barriers, and variable local ownership. Further information on the external evaluation is available at the following link:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/projects/perinatal-culture-and-leadership-programme-pclp

To follow on from the delivery of the PCLP, NHS England commissioned the network of Patient Safety Collaboratives from 2024 to 2026 to support perinatal leadership teams with the development, progression, and sustainability of their work culture. This support was tailored to local context and encouraged peer collaboration and sharing of good practice.

NHS England is also rolling out the Perinatal Equity and Anti-Discrimination Programme to every maternity and neonatal service in England. This multi-disciplinary culture change programme aims to tackle racism and discrimination, support fair and psychologically safe working environments for staff, and improve the experience of care for women, babies, and families.

Baroness Amos’ national independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal care identified culture as a significant issue. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which is comprised of family representatives, clinicians, and other experts, and chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will translate the recommendations from Baroness Amos’ investigation into a single, national action plan to drive systemic and sustained improvement across maternity and neonatal care.