Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to support self-employed midwives.

Independent midwives make a valuable contribution to midwifery services across the country. As they are not employed by the National Health Service, we do not have any influence over their pay or terms and conditions, or how they access learning, development, and pastoral support. Many self-employed midwives are members of Independent Midwifery UK, which does offer support and mentoring.

Local employers who work with self-employed midwives are best placed to determine what additional support they can offer, in the interests of delivering high quality services.