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 reach his target of reducing pre-term births from 8% to 6% by 2025.

The Government has introduced a range of initiatives to drive progress towards the National Maternity Safety Ambition, which includes an ambition to reduce pre-term births from 8% to 6% by 2025.

Most recently, NHS England’s Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle provides up-to-date, evidence-based best practice for providers and commissioners of maternity care across England to reduce perinatal mortality. The latest version was published in May 2023 and comprises of six elements, including an element which focuses on reducing pre-term birth.

This element recommends three intervention areas to reduce adverse foetal and neonatal outcomes, and encourages providers to draw upon the learning from existing British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) toolkits and the wide range of resources from other successful regional programmes.