Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many midwives have left the NHS in England in the past 12 months, and (2) what steps they plan to take to ensure safe NHS midwife staffing levels.

In the 12 months to the end of June 2021, 2,875 midwives left service in the National Health Service in England. This includes midwives on maternity leave and those moving to work in healthcare roles in non-NHS providers.

The Government has committed to increasing the number of available midwifery training places in England by more than 3,650 in the four years from 2019, with an initial additional 650 training places made available and increases of 1,000 in each year since then.

NHS England is providing £95 million for the recruitment of 1,200 more midwives and 100 more obstetricians and to support multi-disciplinary team training.