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 (a) create a pathway for (i) expectant and (ii) new fathers and (b) ensure that NHS staff are trained to (A) engage with and (B) provide (1) information and (2) support to fathers.

Listening and responding to all women and families, including expectant and new fathers, is an essential part of providing safe and high-quality care. There are multiple actions in place that recognise and involve new and expectant fathers. These include:

• ensuring that fathers’ perspectives shape improvements to services and care, through Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships;
• encouraging fathers’ involvement in care for their babies in neonatal units, through Family Integrated Care, helping to strengthen the parent-infant bond and improve infant health outcomes;
• providing evidence-based mental health assessments and support for partners, including fathers, through Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services. This has helped 5% to 10% of fathers experiencing mental health conditions during the perinatal period;
• ensuring that health visiting services are parent focussed and include both mothers and fathers, including in perinatal mental health support; and
• offering antenatal education services which are available to women and their families, including fathers, in the majority of trusts.

In addition, in January 2025, the Department announced £126 million for the continuation of the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme in 2025/26, in 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation. This includes £36.5 million for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationship support, including for fathers.

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

To support employers, NHS England has launched a number of initiatives to ensure that NHS staff are trained to engage with and provide information and support to fathers. This includes an e-learning module on handling difficult situations, and a Core Competency Framework, which sets out clear expectations for all trusts, aiming to address known variations in training and competency assessments. The framework includes a module on equality, equity, and personalised care.