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 effectiveness of the continuity of carer model.

There is no longer a national target date for services to deliver continuity of carer and services will be supported to develop local plans. Local midwifery and obstetric leaders are asked to focus on recruitment and retention of the workforce and to develop plans and to take account of local populations, staffing levels, more specialised models of care required by some women and current ways of working supporting the whole maternity team.