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 deliver safe staffing levels for midwives.

The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. NHS England is leading a range of initiatives to boost retention of existing staff and ensure it remains an attractive career choice for new recruits. This includes the new Graduate Guarantee for nurses and midwives to ensure there are enough positions for every newly qualified midwife in England.

As of October 2025, there were 25,281 full time equivalent midwives working in NHS trusts. This is an increase of 878, or 3.6%, compared to October 2024.

We are also developing a new 10 Year Workforce Plan which will set out how the NHS workforce will align with the future direction of healthcare reform set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.