Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many consultant-led NHS maternity units have been downgraded in each of the last six years.

This information is not held centrally.

The Government is clear that the redesign of front-line health services, including maternity services, is a matter for the local National Health Service, where clinicians are best-placed to make the decisions in the best interests of their patients.

All such decisions are locally led and any proposed changes to services are subject to meeting the four tests for service change: they must have support from general practitioner commissioners, be based on clinical evidence, demonstrate public and patient engagement, and consider patient choice.