Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the abolition of the Health Services Safety Investigation Branch on the level of maternity safety.

I refer the Hon Member to My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s statement to the House of Commons on 15 September in response to the publication of the Thirlwall Inquiry, which stated:

“The inquiry is clear about the important role of HSSIB [the Health Services Safety Investigation Branch]. The intention of our reforms is for that role to continue. As part of the Health Bill, it involves transferring HSSIB into the Care Quality Commission. However, that independent role and investigations will continue. I plan to review the detail of this to ensure that we are meeting the spirit of the inquiry’s recommendation, because it is immensely important that we have those arrangements in place.”