Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the capacity of overnight accommodation for parents with babies on neonatal units.

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. Parents are partners in their baby’s care in the neonatal unit, and all providers are expected to ensure that facilities will be available to support family-centred care including access to parent accommodation, which will encompass co-bedding where appropriate, for all families.