Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that midwives are working to the Future Midwife Standards as published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Health Education England (HEE) is working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and other partners to support the implementation of the Future Midwife Standards. This includes the delivery of joint regional workshops with the NMC, Royal College of Midwives and NHS England to provide support to Heads and Directors of Midwifery to implement the standards and raise awareness of the alignment to the Ockenden and Turning the Tide reports.

HEE hosts two modules on the e-Learning for Healthcare platform which provide information and support in relation to the standards. The ‘Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment Update’ module is available to all National Health Service nursing and midwifery staff, which refreshes the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to support learners. Aligned to the NMC’s standards for supervision and assessment, the ‘Practice Educator and Assessor Preparation’ module is designed to prepare educators and assessors in all nursing, midwifery and allied health profession fields.