Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the number of still births.

We have made reducing stillbirth an improvement area for the National Health Service in the NHS Outcomes Framework. It is encouraging that the stillbirth rate in England has fallen from 5.2 stillbirths per 1,000 total births in 2011 to 4.7 in 2013.

The Department is working with key partners, including NHS England, Public Health England, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal College of Midwives and the stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, to identify and drive forward the actions required to help reduce further the stillbirth and neonatal mortality rate in England.

Our stillbirth prevention work programme aims to reduce stillbirth and neonatal mortality by raising awareness of the known risk factors; identifying the currently unknown factors and causes associated with perinatal and infant mortality; and facilitate the learning and sharing of good practice across the NHS.