Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' recent position statement on Equitable access to maternity care for refugee, asylum seeking and undocumented migrant women, if his Department will publish (a) data on the number of migrant women who have been charged for maternity care and (b) an assessment of the impact of charging migrant women for maternity care.

The Department does not hold the information requested as it is not collected centrally from trusts. While some overseas visitors may be charged for these services, refugees and asylum seekers receive free National Health Service hospital care, including maternity care. There are also other safeguards for potentially vulnerable groups, as set out in the Department’s guidance on implementing the overseas visitor charging regime.

The Department continuously reviews the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, to consider the impact on vulnerable groups and protected characteristics, including pregnancy and maternity. It is currently the Department’s intention to publish updated impact analyses in summer 2022.