Black Maternal Health

Health and Social Care Committee Open Non-inquiry session
Opened: 6 May 2025 Parliament page
Black women in the UK are three times more likely to die in childbirth than White women, highlighting stark ethnic inequalities in maternal health outcomes. A 2022 Women and Equalities Committee inquiry identified systemic barriers, biases, and gaps in care. Several recent policies such as the Maternity Disparities Taskforce and … Read more
9 Recommendations
11 Conclusions
1 Report
2 Oral sessions
1 Letter
2 Events
Activity timeline 7 events
16 Dec
2025
Report published
17 Sep
2025
Report published
14 Jul
2025
Correspondence
18 Jun
2025
Oral evidence
18 Jun
2025
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
14 May
2025
Oral evidence
14 May
2025
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 15, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions
18 Jun 2025
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Oral Evidence
Janet Fyle MBE · Royal College of Midwives Kate Brintworth · NHS England Professor Bola Owolabi · NHS England Professor Hassan Shehata · Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) Professor Lucy Chappell · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Sylvia Owusu-Nepaul · Birmingham and Solihull United Maternity & Newborn Partnership The Baroness Merron · Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
14 May 2025
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Oral Evidence
Professor Marian Knight · National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit Shanthi Gunesekera · Birthrights UK Sonah Paton · Black Mothers Matter Tinuke Awe · Five x More
Title HC No. Published Items Response
3rd Report - Black Maternal Health HC 895 17 Sep 2025 20 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
4 results
Clear
12 Conclusion Acknowledged
3rd Report - Black Maternal Health
Suspension of RCOG safe staffing tool undermines maternity workforce stability.
Suspending adoption of RCOG’s safe staffing tool has left Trusts without clear guidance on safe staffing levels, perpetuating poor workforce supply and undermining efforts to stabilise and support maternity teams. (Conclusion, Paragraph 64) 33
Government Response
NHS England acknowledges the importance of clear staffing guidance and is collaborating with the RCOG to produce a set of principles and expectations for obstetric consultant job planning, which they aim to share soon to support optimal staffing levels in maternity services.
Department of Health and Social Care
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14 Conclusion Acknowledged
3rd Report - Black Maternal Health
Insufficient ethnicity data on maternal morbidity prevents monitoring and improving outcomes.
Collecting robust, consistent, and equity-focused data on ethnicity and maternal morbidity is essential to enable health services to monitor and improve their services guiding improvements in maternal outcomes. Without it, it is significantly harder to produce accurate comparisons across all … Read more
Government Response
The government strongly agrees on the essential role of robust ethnicity data for improving maternal outcomes and outlines the Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan, including five areas for action, a new PRiSMM surveillance system by Q1 2026, and a Maternal Care Bundle by April 2026.
Department of Health and Social Care
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15 Conclusion Acknowledged
3rd Report - Black Maternal Health
Government agreement on an Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan is welcomed.
We are pleased that the Government has agreed an Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan and look forward to seeing the details when it is published. (Conclusion, Paragraph 80)
Government Response
The government strongly agrees on the importance of robust ethnicity data and provides details of the Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan, which includes 5 areas for action, a new PRiSMM surveillance system by Q1 2026, and a Maternal Care Bundle by April 2026.
Department of Health and Social Care
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20 Recommendation Acknowledged
3rd Report - Black Maternal Health
Set out how Government will monitor ICB investment and intervene in maternity services.
More broadly, the Government must ensure that maternity services continue to be a priority within ICB funding allocations. We ask the Government to set out in its response to this Report how it will monitor ICB investment in these services, … Read more
Government Response
The government states that maternity services remain a core priority for ICBs and commits to continuing to monitor ICB investment in these services. They highlight existing national priorities and efforts to address pre-pregnancy health factors, but do not provide specific new details on how monitoring or intervention will occur.
Department of Health and Social Care
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Government Response AI assessment · 20 of 9 classified
Accepted 8
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 4
Deferred 4
Rejected 3
Total 9 recs + 11 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
14 Jul 2025 Correspondence from Baroness Merron re Black Maternal Health
Parliament page