Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce racial disparities in maternal deaths.

While births in England are among the safest globally we must do more to ensure maternity care is consistent regardless of ethnicity. To address disparities within the maternity and neonatal system, each Local Maternity and Neonatal System has produced an Equity and Equality Action Plan, shaped by Guidance set out by NHS England in 2022.

NHS England have developed 14 Maternal Medicine Networks across England, to ensure that all women with chronic and acute medical problems around pregnancy, such as diabetes and heart disease, have access to specialist management and care from physicians and obstetrics. We understand that co-morbidities are the biggest contributor to maternal mortality and knowing that black women are more likely to suffer from a pre-existing condition, they will be a key group for whom the networks provide benefit.

Further to this, in 2022, we established the Maternity Disparities Taskforce, bringing together experts from across the health system, Government departments and the voluntary sector to co-ordinate focus and deliver evidence-based interventions to address maternal disparities.