Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on
Petitions Committee
Closed
Non-inquiry session
One year on from the publication of its report on the impact of Covid-19 on maternity and parental leave, the Petitions Committee will hear from expert witnesses about the progress made against the problems identified and recommendations made to the Government in the report.
18
Recommendations
8
Conclusions
1
Report
1
Oral session
1
Letter
1
Event
Activity timeline 5 events
7 Mar
2022
2022
15 Dec
2021
2021
7 Oct
2021
2021
Report published
14 Jul
2021
2021
Oral evidence
14 Jul
2021
2021
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 8, Palace of Westminster
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
14 Jul 2021
View on parliament.uk
Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on
Bethany Power, Petition signatory · Private citizen
Dr Sarah McMullen · NCT (National Childbirth Trust)
Emily Tredget · Happity
Joeli Brearley · Pregnant Then Screwed
Neil Leitch · Early Years Alliance
Rosalind Bragg · Maternity Action
Sally Hogg · Parent-Infant Foundation
Sue Armstrong Brown · Adoption UK
Reports 1 report · click to expand
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Report - Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on | HC 479 | 7 Oct 2021 | 26 | Responded |
Recommendations & Conclusions
13 results
2
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
Support for new families is concentrated in the early months of a child’s life, but...
Support for new families is concentrated in the early months of a child’s life, but for many families this crucial time fell wholly within the extended period of restrictions. Ensuring new parents can now urgently access comprehensive support—including catching up …
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Government Response
The government accepted the need for urgent comprehensive support by announcing 26 new integrated maternity hubs, expanding specialist perinatal mental health services, ensuring GP postnatal checks, increasing Mother and Baby unit capacity, and committing £100 million for bespoke mental health support.
3
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We welcome the Government and NHS England’s planned programme of capacity- building for perinatal mental...
We welcome the Government and NHS England’s planned programme of capacity- building for perinatal mental health services over the next 2–3 years. However, new parents are already experiencing the mental health impact of covid-19. Plans for long-term capacity-building must be …
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Government Response
The government details new and existing investments, including £100 million for bespoke mental health support for new and expectant parents, and outlines the expansion of NHS perinatal mental health hubs and Mother and Baby units.
4
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We recommend that the Government provides additional funding and resources to bring forward the delivery...
We recommend that the Government provides additional funding and resources to bring forward the delivery of its perinatal mental health capacity-building programme. We also recommend that the Government fund primary healthcare services to invest in additional mental health catch-up services …
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Government Response
The government outlines significant new investment, including £100 million for bespoke mental health support for new and expectant parents, and details the expansion of NHS perinatal mental health hubs and Mother and Baby units.
7
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We remain concerned at the number of new parents reporting limited or no access to...
We remain concerned at the number of new parents reporting limited or no access to health visiting services over the period of the pandemic. Virtual checks were a necessary innovation during covid-19, but new parents and their children must now …
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Government Response
The government reiterates that every family should be offered five face-to-face health and wellbeing reviews by health visitors. It states that the Public Health Grant for local authorities will be maintained in real terms, enabling investment in services, but does not commit to additional central government funding for extra need.
8
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
In order to support parents who have missed health visiting checks, we recommend that the...
In order to support parents who have missed health visiting checks, we recommend that the Government provide additional funding to local authorities to enable in- person visits to new parents by appropriate local authority, voluntary organisation, or health visiting staff, …
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Government Response
The government states that the Public Health Grant will be maintained in real terms, enabling local authorities to invest in child health visits and existing health visitor services which are already designed to be face-to-face where necessary. They also point to ongoing work to build evidence on virtual interventions and suggest recovery plans for COVID-19 impacts.
10
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We recommend that the Government conduct a review of the services funded under the Adoption...
We recommend that the Government conduct a review of the services funded under the Adoption Support Fund’s expanded scope in 2020–21, to consider which of the services temporarily offered in response to covid-19 should continue to be in scope for …
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Government Response
The government states that an evaluation of the Adoption Support Fund's expanded scope in 2020-21 was published on 20 October 2021, aligning with the recommendation for a review. Findings from this evaluation and a wider internal review will inform future business planning and the Spending Review.
11
Conclusion
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
Despite existing guidance on protecting vulnerable workers on the Health and Safety Executive website and...
Despite existing guidance on protecting vulnerable workers on the Health and Safety Executive website and Working Safely guidance on GOV.UK, many pregnant women still report health and safety concerns at work. Adhering to this guidance should not be seen by …
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Government Response
The government states existing health and safety protections for pregnant workers are in place and that HSE does record all breaches of health and safety where enforcement action is taken. They refute the claim of not recording specific breaches for pregnant workers by stating none were recorded for risk assessment failures, and HSE will engage with stakeholders to clarify guidance.
13
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We welcome the Government’s commitments to tackling workplace discrimination against new and expectant mothers and...
We welcome the Government’s commitments to tackling workplace discrimination against new and expectant mothers and the actions it is taking to better understand this issue. We echo witnesses’ dismay at the apparent failure of current employment law and the tribunal …
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Government Response
The government accepts the recommendation and commits to extending redundancy protections for new and expectant mothers. This includes applying protection from pregnancy notification, extending it for six months after returning to work, and extending it for those on adoption or shared parental leave, with implementation planned as soon as parliamentary time allows.
16
Conclusion
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
Despite childcare settings being allowed to remain open since summer 2020, levels of activity remain...
Despite childcare settings being allowed to remain open since summer 2020, levels of activity remain below pre-pandemic levels. We welcome the steps taken by the Government to support the sector financially during covid-19, but this has not prevented many providers …
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Government Response
The government details over £3.5 billion spent annually on early education entitlements, plus an additional £510 million over three years for early years entitlements. They also outline existing support through Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare, aiming to provide long-term support for the childcare sector, while stating they will not launch an independent review of childcare at this time.
17
Conclusion
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
New parents continue to struggle to access the childcare they need to effectively re-enter the...
New parents continue to struggle to access the childcare they need to effectively re-enter the workforce on the terms they want. While covid-19 has exacerbated this challenge, the high cost of paid-for childcare is a barrier which both predates covid-19 …
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Government Response
The government acknowledges the challenges of childcare costs by outlining existing support through Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare, and committing significant additional funding of over £500 million for early years entitlements over the next three years to increase hourly rates for providers.
19
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
We welcome the long-term vision of the Government’s Best Start for Life review, but to...
We welcome the long-term vision of the Government’s Best Start for Life review, but to date covid-19 recovery funding aimed at children aged under 2 appears to Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on 29 have been unjustifiably …
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Government Response
The government accepted the recommendation to invest proportionately by announcing a £500 million families and early years support package for the next three years, including £100 million for parental mental health, £82 million for Family Hubs, and £10 million for staff recruitment.
22
Recommendation
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
The Government should continue to work with health authorities to communicate information about pregnancy and...
The Government should continue to work with health authorities to communicate information about pregnancy and covid-19, including vaccine safety and emerging data on the risks of covid-19 when pregnant, to support informed decisions by pregnant women.
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Government Response
The government details multiple ongoing initiatives to communicate information about pregnancy and COVID-19, including vaccine safety, to support informed decisions by pregnant women. These include letters to healthcare services, media appearances by medical officials, sharing case stories, publishing new data, and changes to vaccine priority groups.
25
Conclusion
Accepted
First Report - Impact of Covid-19…
The Government’s response to our report last year failed to acknowledge the need for urgent...
The Government’s response to our report last year failed to acknowledge the need for urgent action to support new parents, rejecting almost all of our recommendations. One year on, many of the concerns we raised remain live issues. While the …
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Government Response
The government will not develop an isolated strategy for new parents, but instead integrate learning from all parents into a broader package of support. They announced £500 million of new funding for families and early years, including specific allocations for mental health support, Family Hubs, and early years providers.
Correspondence 1 letter
15 Dec 2021
Correspondence from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Vaccines and Public Health relating to the Committee’s inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on
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