Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2021 to Question 29932 on Maternity Services: Enfield North, what (a) steps she has taken and (b) plans she has developed as a result of discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on improvements in maternal care for (a) women living in poverty, (b) Black women and (c) Asian women in the Enfield North constituency.

As set out in my answer of 19 July 2021, since summer 2020 I have been working with the Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health and officials in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to improve maternal outcomes for all ethnic minority women.

This has included co-hosting a roundtable discussion on maternal mortality rates for ethnic minority women in September 2020, which identified the need for more intelligent use of data to target action. Following this, officials in the Cabinet Office Race Disparity Unit, who are supporting me in this work, have been helping DHSC colleagues to understand how data can be disaggregated and flow more easily among NHS agencies and research bodies.

This is in addition to the wider package of measures DHSC is taking forward to improve maternal health outcomes for all women, and in particular those from an ethnic minority background and those living in areas with high deprivation.