Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that all maternity services are accredited by the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative.

Public Health England and UNICEF UK have developed a toolkit to support commissioning of evidence-based interventions to improve breastfeeding rates across England, including provision of effective professional support to mothers and their families through implementation of the Baby Friendly Initiative in every maternity unit.

The majority of maternity units (91%) and health visiting services (85%) across the United Kingdom are now working towards Baby Friendly accreditation, and new neonatal and children’s centre standards have been introduced to help services improve care.