Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the increase in the stillbirth rate in 2021.

The Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (MBRRACE-UK) annually publishes a detailed analysis of the rates of stillbirth, neonatal mortality and extended perinatal mortality for the United Kingdom and for each devolved nation.

MBRRACE-UK’s Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Report, published in September 2023, analyses UK perinatal deaths from births from January to December 2021. The report states that the most common causes of stillbirth were placental, congenital anomalies, cord problems, and infection. There remains a high proportion of stillbirths with an unknown cause of death, namely 33.3%. A copy of the report is attached.

The latest data shows that there has been a reduction in the stillbirth rate from 4.1 stillbirths per 1,000 total births in 2021, to 3.9 stillbirths per 1,000 total births in 2022. Overall, since 2010, there has been a 23% reduction in the stillbirth rate.