Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 1.10 of the Three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services, published on 30 March 2023, what steps her Department is taking with NHS England to monitor the provision of access to interpreters for patients in maternity services by NHS trusts.

Integrated care boards and National Health Service providers are responsible for ensuring that translation and interpretation services are in place, as they are better placed to make decisions about how they use their funding based on the needs of their local populations. To support them in this, NHS England has developed a framework agreement with suppliers of translation and interpretation services, whose experience and capability has been robustly tested. The services include face to face spoken language, British sign language, telephone interpretation and translation, document translation, and video translation and interpretation. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.sbs.nhs.uk/services/framework-agreements/interpretation-and-translation-services/

To identify the most effective way to improve interpretation provision across all clinical services, including maternity and neonatal care, NHS England has completed a strategic review during 2023/24. The review considered the breadth and complexity of issues across the patient pathway, and completed an options appraisal of potential interventions. The review will inform how we best help improve interpretation services so that they meet the needs of communities and support equitable access, experience, and outcomes for all, and includes the development of an NHS Framework for Action for Community Language Translation and Interpreting during 2024/25.