Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve maternity safety in hospitals.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has announced a rapid, national, independent Investigation into National Health Service maternity and neonatal services, chaired by Baroness Amos, to understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care.

The Investigation will look into maternity and neonatal services in 14 NHS trusts alongside reviewing the maternity and neonatal system, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of actions.

The Government is also establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce. The Taskforce will be chaired by the Secretary of State and will take forward the recommendations of the Investigation, forming them into a national action plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care.

Alongside this, the Government is taking immediate action to boost accountability and safety as part of its mission to build an NHS fit for the future – including measures to hold the system to account, a system to better identify safety concerns, rolling out a programme to all trusts to tackle discrimination and racism, and new best practice standards in maternal mortality.