Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the £6.8 million allocated to local maternity systems to co-produce and implement equity and equality action plans on maternity services.

In autumn 2022, each local health system submitted an equity and equality action plan to NHS England. NHS England has reviewed these plans to ensure that the requirements of the equity and equality guidance for local maternity systems have been met. Information from the review process will be used to understand whether additional support is required to support the implementation of the plans. The guidance includes process and outcome indicators for each action, which will determine the impact and extent of the plans.