Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his Department’s policies of the report entitled Healthy Mum, Healthy Baby, Healthy Future, published May 2022.

The Department has noted the recommendations of the report. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency recently completed a public consultation on legislative powers to support diversity in clinical trial populations, including pregnancy and individuals who are breast feeding. The submissions are being analysed and the Government’s response will be published later this year.

The Clinical Practice Research Datalink is currently being developed as a resource for studying the safety of medicines use in pregnancy via a new expanded Pregnancy Register. This includes anonymised data on 24.5 million pregnancy episodes in seven million women. The Registry will increase the ability to study rare exposures and outcomes and improve healthcare advice for women.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027’ has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, including pregnancy and maternity. The NIHR has published guidance to improve the inclusion of population groups with lower representation in research and clinical trials, such as pregnant women. The NIHR has commissioned research into maternal and neonatal health, focusing on the safety of maternity services. The Department will also host a discussion with researchers on addressing the under-representation of women in research, including pregnant women.