Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the introduction of a pregnancy loss certificate.

The Women’s Health Strategy included a commitment to introduce a Certificate of Pregnancy Loss. This will provide a non-statutory, voluntary scheme to enable parents who have experienced a pre-24 weeks pregnancy loss to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their baby’s potential life. The purpose of recording and issuing a certificate is to provide comfort and support by validating a loss. The certificate will not be a legal document but will be an important acknowledgement of a life lost.

The Department is working with NHS Business Services Authority to ensure that the pregnancy loss certificates will be introduced in 2023.