5 Deferred

Set actions to improve perinatal mental health access within Family Hubs for ethnic minority women.

Recommendation
The Government should set out what actions it will take to improve access to perinatal mental health care within Family Hubs, supported by specific targets to improve access for women from ethnic minority backgrounds who have disproportionately poorer mental health outcomes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 33)
Government Response Summary
The government defers specific actions and targets for improving access to perinatal mental health care within Family Hubs to forthcoming long-term strategies, including the 10 Year Workforce Plan and a professional strategy for nursing and midwifery due in spring 2026. It explicitly states it cannot commit to specific numbers at this stage.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government Deferred
We agree that the child health workforce - including midwife and health visiting teams - are central to how we support families. Their contact with parents, carers and children of all ages provides vital advice and support and helps ensure that health, development and safeguarding needs are identified early. We are committed to strengthening health-visiting services so that all families have access to high-quality, personalised support. This objective will be met through long-term sustainable reform in light of the forthcoming 10 Year Workforce Plan. This will set out how the health workforce will support delivery of the reforms in the 10 Year Health Plan, including its proposed system shift to prevention. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups. Our 10 Year Health Plan committed to a professional strategy for nursing and midwifery, which is expected to be published in spring 2026. This strategy will set out a professional direction of travel, up to 2040, for all England’s nurses, midwives and nursing associates. We cannot commit to a specific number at this stage, but we are working closely with regions in relation to the current challenges for releasing staff to fill commissioned training places. It is our intention to improve the capacity of health-visiting services, including through the development of a safe staffing tool, which will be developed over the next few years.
Addressee Bodies
Department of Health and Social Care
Timeline
Recommendation age 0.5 yr
Report published 22 Jan 2026