Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 19 June (HL946), given that access to independent investigation is not available to antepartum stillbirths or stillbirths before 37 weeks’ gestation, and depends upon estimated gestational age or retrospective clinical classification as antepartum or intrapartum, what safeguards exist to ensure that parents of stillborn babies are not denied access to independent investigation as a result of uncertainty or error in those assessments.

All bereaved parents have the option to be involved in a high-quality review of the death of their baby, from 22 weeks' gestation up to 28 days post birth, through a perinatal mortality review. While this is carried out by the hospital or hospitals where the mother and baby were looked after, a national tool is in place, namely the national Perinatal Mortality Review Tool, to ensure such reviews are objective, robust, and standardised.

There are a range of views on how stillbirths should be investigated, and it is important that the Government’s conclusions on coronial investigations of stillbirths reflect the recommendations Baroness Amos has made through the final report of her independent investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal care, and supports the most effective model for maternity investigations.

As recommended in Baroness Amos’ report, we will publish the Government’s response to the 2019 consultation, jointly with the Ministry of Justice, in due course.