Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 23 March (HL15676), when the independent evaluation of the Core Competency Framework for maternity and neonatal staff commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research will be completed and its findings published; and whether it includes an assessment of the availability of protected training time, staffing and resource constraints, and variation in training provision across NHS trusts.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research commissioned an independent evaluation of the Core Competency Framework for maternity and neonatal staff. Data collection was completed in August 2026, and the research team is now analysing and disseminating its findings. Two papers have been published to date, with further findings being prepared for publication.

The evaluation is examining the implementation and impact of the framework across maternity and neonatal services in England, including variation in training provision and the barriers and facilitators to its implementation. This includes consideration of organisational and workforce factors affecting implementation.