Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all maternity units attain Baby Friendly Initiative accreditation.

Public Health England’s (PHE’s) Maternity Programme has identified improving national breastfeeding rates as a priority to give babies the best possible start in life. PHE and Unicef UK have developed a toolkit to support commissioning of evidence-based interventions to improve breastfeeding rates across England, including provision of effective professional support to mothers and their families through implementation of the Baby Friendly Initiative in every maternity unit.