Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for the NHS to tackle stillbirth and neonatal deaths.

The Department has funded the National Health Service to implement a range of initiatives to tackle stillbirths and neonatal deaths including the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle which standardises across all NHS maternity services five evidence-based elements of care demonstrated to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths: reducing smoking in pregnancy; risk assessment, prevention and surveillance of pregnancies at risk of fetal growth restriction; raising awareness of reduced fetal movement; effective fetal monitoring during labour and reducing preterm. birth.

New funding for maternity services announced this year includes £95m to recruit 1,200 midwives and 100 consultant obstetricians to ensure safe staffing levels so that women, babies and their families receive the personalised midwifery care they need.

An additional £52m is also being provided to ensure that all women have access to their maternity notes and information through a smart phone by 2023/24. This will enable women to easily access information regarding their pregnancy and communicate any concerns with their midwife or obstetrician to reduce the risk of stillbirth and neonatal deaths.

£6.8m is being provided to support Local Maternity Systems to implement Equity and Equality Strategies to reduce variations in the rates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths for babies from different ethnic or disadvantaged backgrounds.

We have no current plans to provide additional new funding.