Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Perinatal Mortality Review Tool reviews into (a) stillbirths and (b) baby deaths had an external panel member in the last year.

This information is not held in the format requested. On 14 December 2023, Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK published their fifth annual Perinatal Mortality Review Tool report. The report presents data from the 4,111 reviews conducted between March 2022 to February 2023. The report sets out that an external member was present in 45% of reviews, which is an increase from only one in three involving an external member from the previous year. An external panel member is strongly recommended due to the importance of providing fresh eyes to support the review.