Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to provide free carbon monoxide monitors to people in their first pregnancy to help protect pregnant people and their children.

The Department currently has no plans to provide free carbon monoxide monitors to people in their first pregnancy.

Exposure to carbon monoxide presents a risk to pregnant women and can be caused by smoking during pregnancy or other environmental factors. The Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle includes an element for reducing smoking in pregnancy by following National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance. This will be achieved by offering carbon monoxide testing for all women at the antenatal booking appointment and as appropriate throughout pregnancy, to identify smokers, or those exposed to tobacco smoke, and offer them a referral for support from a trained stop smoking advisor. The NHS Long Term Plan and 2019/20 Planning Guidance sets out that the care bundle will be rolled out across every maternity unit in England in 2019.

For all pregnant women, carbon monoxide testing may also highlight a household problem and the need to take measures to prevent further exposure.