Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) assess the needs of and (b) provide appropriate support for parents of twins.

There is a wide network of universal services and tailored information that parents of twins are able to access.

When babies are delivered safely, parents will likely have them beside them on the postnatal ward, where they will be supported to care for and feed their newborn. In the case that infants are born very early, they may need to spend some time in special (neonatal) care, which is not uncommon in the case of twin births.

The National Health Service website, Your newborn twins, provides expectant parents of twins advice on how to prepare for twins being born early, taking twins home and getting twins into a routine. This is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/baby/newborn-twins-and-multiples/your-newborn-twins/

Additionally, health visiting services are offered to all families, including five health and development reviews, information, support and intervention at key stages for parents and children. Where additional needs are identified, the health visiting service can either provide additional support directly or refer to NHS or local services as required.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is also supporting parents and carers of children of all ages, with a strong focus on conception to age two. Family hubs provide a wide range of universal services that could help parents of twins, such as support with infant feeding, perinatal mental health, and parent-infant relationships. We know that some local areas are offering more targeted support for parents of twins and multiples through their family hub networks.