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 availability of NHS maternity services in rural areas.

It is important that all women and babies receive safe, equitable, and compassionate care, regardless of where they live.

Recognising the specific challenges in rural and remote areas, such as distance from services and workforce constraints, NHS England applies a targeted “remoteness adjustment” in the funding formulas for integrated care boards. This adjustment is worth £106 million in 2025/2026, including funding for maternity care within that. This supports hospitals that serve sparsely populated areas where providing care is unavoidably more costly due to lower activity levels and long travel times.