Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to undertake research into alternative methods of (a) maternity and (b) early post-natal care.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds research in maternal and neonatal health, focussing on the safety of maternity and neonatal services and the national maternity ambition to halve maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths and brain injury by 2025. The NIHR has funded a study to evaluate acupuncture and standard care for pregnant women with back pain. It also supports the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth group, which has reviewed alternative methods of maternity and post-natal care. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including alternative methods of maternity and early post-natal care.