Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what targeted interventions are in place to help reduce inequalities in maternal outcomes .

The Government is working closely with NHS England, and the wider sector, to identify the right actions and interventions to tackle the stark inequalities that exist for women and babies. We are ensuring that we take an evidence-based approach, and that any targets set are women and baby-centred.

On 30 June, Baroness Amos published her national independent report into National Health Service maternity and neonatal care. Her investigation found that women and families are not being listened to, accountability is not being delivered when things go wrong, and that racism and discrimination are driving inequalities in outcomes. We will take further action to tackle unacceptable inequalities affecting Black, Asian, and disadvantaged women from all backgrounds. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which is comprised of family representatives, clinicians, and other experts, and chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will translate the recommendations from Baroness Amos’ investigation into a single, national action plan to drive systemic and sustained improvement across maternity and neonatal care.

We are already taking a range of immediate actions to address inequalities in maternal outcomes, including an inequalities dashboard, which brings together a range of inequalities metrics to allow NHS trusts to see data relating to disparities in one place to identify, understand, and eliminate disparities, rolling out the Perinatal Equity and Anti-Discrimination Programme to every maternity and neonatal service in England to tackle discrimination and racism, and we have launched a Maternal Care Bundle which includes best practice for clinical conditions that are the leading causes of death for women from Black and Asian backgrounds.