Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mother and baby respite homes to help lower levels of maternal suicide.

We have no plans to make a specific assessment. However, we are expanding perinatal mental health services in England to include new mental health ‘hubs’ for new, expectant or bereaved mothers. This includes 33 new maternal mental health services, which provide psychological therapy, maternity services and reproductive health for women who have mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These will be available in England by March 2024.