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Written Question
Maternity Services: Ethnic Groups
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 12 of the Fifth Special Report of Session 2022–23 of the Women and Equalities Committee entitled Black maternal health: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report, published on 30 June 2023, HC 1611, what the outcome was of the scoping exercise undertaking by NHS England on (a) the implications of co-ordinating the Maternal Health Disparities review and (b) assessing how to bring relevant stakeholders together.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The scoping work, to fully understand the implications of co-ordinating this review and determining the best way to bring the relevant stakeholders together, has not yet started.


Written Question
Pregnancy: Air Pollution
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Lord Woolley of Woodford (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Black Child Clean Air Report published by Global Black Maternal Health in June 2023, which indicated that almost half of all Black mothers do not feel educated on the foetal impact of air pollution exposure during pregnancy.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

While no specific assessment has been made, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are working with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to review the Air Quality Information System to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups, have the information they need to protect themselves and understand their impact on air quality. UKHSA’s Cleaner Air Programme also aims to reduce people’s exposure to air pollution and achieve better outcomes for all, particularly for the most vulnerable populations including pregnant women and ethnic minority groups.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Ethnic Groups
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with NHS England on improving awareness of inequalities in black and Asian maternal health outcomes amongst clinicians.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Government is committed to tackling and reducing disparities in health outcomes. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has not had specific discussions with NHS England about improving clinician awareness. However, the Maternity Disparities Taskforce, of which I am a co-chair, was established in February 2022 to tackle disparities for mothers and babies and reduce maternal and neonatal deaths.

The taskforce brings together experts from across the health system, governmental departments, and the voluntary sector to explore and consider evidence-based interventions to tackle maternal disparities. One of the key priorities of the taskforce at present is focusing on improving access to effective pre-conception and maternity care for women from ethnic minorities, and those living in the most deprived areas.

NHS England has also published their Equity and Equality guidance for Local Maternity Systems, supported by a £6.8 million investment, which focuses on actions to reduce disparities for women and babies from ethnic minorities and those living in the most deprived areas.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Ethnic Groups
Thursday 8th February 2024

Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will provide additional funding for research into the development of effective interventions to help tackle disparities in maternal health outcomes for black and Asian women.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds research in maternal and neonatal health through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including disparities in maternal health outcomes for black and Asian women.

In January my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the first ever NIHR Challenge, backed by £50 million, to task researchers and policymakers with finding new ways to tackle maternity disparities. We expect the funding call to launch in spring 2024.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Safety
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of maternity and neonatal safety improvement schemes on mitigating the effects of inequalities in perinatal deaths.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

In March 2023, NHS England published its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. This sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care more equitable, as well as safer and more personalised.

The three-year delivery plan is based on evidence, including the impact on inequalities where available, and wide consultation. NHS England is tracking the impact on maternity and neonatal outcomes based on ethnicity and deprivation.

A central ambition of the delivery plan is to reduce inequalities in access, experience and outcomes for women and babies. This is being delivered through the implementation of Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems equity and equality action plans and advocating a proportionate universalism approach, alongside targeted service models designed to reduce inequalities, including enhanced midwifery continuity of carer and culturally sensitive genetics services for high need areas.

NHS England is also providing training and resources for all maternity and neonatal staff, so they can deliver culturally competent and sensitive care. This includes access to cultural competence training, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Midwives, and provision of clinical training aids to support care for women and babies with black or dark skin. In November 2023, NHS England offered £50,000 funding to each NHS England regional team in England to implement ethnic minority workforce training to upskill staff and promote more equitable experience for service users.

In January 2024, the NHS Race and Health Observatory launched the Learning and Action Network in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Health Foundation. The Learning and Action Network will utilise an anti-racism approach to quality improvement to drive clinical transformation and enable system-wide change. It will work with nine healthcare systems to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

Additionally, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) national maternity inspection programme, which completed in December 2023, looked at how services are addressing inequalities in maternity care through a safety and leadership lens. The CQC will be reporting on their findings from the inspection programme later this year and will include findings relating to inequalities.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Safety
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that maternity and neonatal safety improvement schemes include a focus on mitigating the effects of inequalities.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

In March 2023, NHS England published its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. This sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care more equitable, as well as safer and more personalised.

The three-year delivery plan is based on evidence, including the impact on inequalities where available, and wide consultation. NHS England is tracking the impact on maternity and neonatal outcomes based on ethnicity and deprivation.

A central ambition of the delivery plan is to reduce inequalities in access, experience and outcomes for women and babies. This is being delivered through the implementation of Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems equity and equality action plans and advocating a proportionate universalism approach, alongside targeted service models designed to reduce inequalities, including enhanced midwifery continuity of carer and culturally sensitive genetics services for high need areas.

NHS England is also providing training and resources for all maternity and neonatal staff, so they can deliver culturally competent and sensitive care. This includes access to cultural competence training, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Midwives, and provision of clinical training aids to support care for women and babies with black or dark skin. In November 2023, NHS England offered £50,000 funding to each NHS England regional team in England to implement ethnic minority workforce training to upskill staff and promote more equitable experience for service users.

In January 2024, the NHS Race and Health Observatory launched the Learning and Action Network in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Health Foundation. The Learning and Action Network will utilise an anti-racism approach to quality improvement to drive clinical transformation and enable system-wide change. It will work with nine healthcare systems to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

Additionally, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) national maternity inspection programme, which completed in December 2023, looked at how services are addressing inequalities in maternity care through a safety and leadership lens. The CQC will be reporting on their findings from the inspection programme later this year and will include findings relating to inequalities.


Written Question
Mental Health: Ethnic Groups
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce disparities in maternal health outcomes experienced by black women and women from Asian and Ethnic Minority groups.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department is committed to tackling disparities in maternal outcomes. In March 2023, NHS England published its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. The plan outlines how NHS England will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for all.

NHSE also published its Equity and Equality guidance for Local Maternity Systems which focuses on actions to reduce disparities for women and babies from ethnic minorities and those living in the most deprived areas.


Written Question
Maternal Mortality: Ethnic Groups
Monday 10th July 2023

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce racial disparities in maternal deaths.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

While births in England are among the safest globally we must do more to ensure maternity care is consistent regardless of ethnicity. To address disparities within the maternity and neonatal system, each Local Maternity and Neonatal System has produced an Equity and Equality Action Plan, shaped by Guidance set out by NHS England in 2022.

NHS England have developed 14 Maternal Medicine Networks across England, to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy, such as diabetes and heart disease, have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics. We understand that co-morbidities are the biggest contributor to maternal mortality and knowing that black women are more likely to suffer from a pre-existing condition, they will be a key group for whom the networks provide benefit.

Further to this, in 2022, we established the Maternity Disparities Taskforce, bringing together experts from across the health system, Government departments and the voluntary sector to co-ordinate focus and deliver evidence-based interventions to address maternal disparities.


Written Question
Maternal Mortality: Ethnic Groups
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to end the Black maternal mortality gap.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

While births in England are among the safest globally, we must do more to ensure maternity care is consistent regardless of ethnicity. To address this, Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems have begun to publish Equity and Equality Action Plans to tackle disparities in outcomes and experiences of maternity care at a local level.

NHS England have developed fourteen Maternal Medicine Networks across England, to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics, tackling the biggest contributors to maternal mortality. Knowing that black women are more likely to suffer with a pre-existing condition, they should be a key group for whom the networks provide benefit.

Further to this, the Maternity Disparities Taskforce, who last held a meeting in April, brings together experts from across the health system, government departments and the voluntary sector to explore and consider evidence-based interventions to tackle maternal disparities.


Written Question
Maternity Services: Equality
Tuesday 9th May 2023

Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure ethnicity data is effectively gathered and (b) reduce delays in data delivery to help tackle disparities in maternal health.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We updated the Women and Equalities Select Committee via correspondence about various aspects of the Maternal Disparities taskforce in March. The questions raised within these Parliamentary Questions are taken from the recommendations within the Women and Equalities Select Committee Report on Black maternal Health, which was published on 18 April 2023. We will consider the findings and recommendations made by the Women and Equalities Select Committee and publish our response in due course.

We take the contents of this report very seriously and remain committed to tackling maternal inequalities and improving equity for mothers and babies. We will continue work to make the National Health Service one of the best places in the world to give birth by offering mothers and babies better support and safer care.

While births in England are among the safest globally, we must do more to ensure maternity care is consistent regardless of race. To address this, Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems have begun to publish Equity and Equality Action Plans to tackle disparities in outcomes and experiences of maternity care at a local level. The Maternity Disparities Taskforce, which last met on 18 April, brings together experts from across the health system, Government Departments and the voluntary sector to explore and consider evidence-based interventions to tackle maternal disparities.