Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve provision of overnight accommodation for parents of babies receiving neonatal care.

Ensuring the very best and safest care for sick babies and their parents during what may be the most difficult time of their lives is absolutely essential. As part of a review into neonatal critical care, NHS England is currently in the process of collecting information on the availability of parent accommodation, as an important part of the service specification. Individual National Health Service providers are responsible for providing this service within the current contractual arrangements. NHS England is visiting every trust as part of the Quality Surveillance Team reviews and further information as to the broader availability will be available in due course.