Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of maternity units open in England in each of the last five years.

While data is not held for 2018, there have been 157 obstetric units in 122 National Health Service trusts providing maternity care in England in each year since 2017.

In addition to obstetric units, some trusts may have freestanding midwifery units or alongside midwifery units. This would be based on the configuration of Trusts and the type of maternity services needed at a local level. The Department does not hold data on the number of freestanding midwifery units and alongside midwifery units open in England in each of the last five years.