Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

10-Year Health Plan: Perinatal Mental Health

Tuesday 22 July 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Laura Kyrke-Smith asked the Minister about the assessment of the 10-year health plan's impact on perinatal mental health.
  • Alex Easton inquired if the lessons learned from the 10-year plan would be shared across the United Kingdom to enhance care quality and reduce disparities.
  • Jess Brown-Fuller raised concerns over rising perinatal deaths since 2015 and highlighted the need for implementing recommendations to address these issues.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Laura Kyrke-Smith Lab Aylesbury
NHS Mental Health
Context

The question concerns the impact of the 10-year health plan on perinatal mental health services. It references the number of women accessing maternal mental health services and the investment in Best Start family hubs.

Question

What assessment has been made of the potential impact of the 10-year health plan for England on perinatal mental health? I am really grateful to the Minister for her answer and for her focus on this. I would like to ask about midwives, who do incredible work supporting parents and babies, including identifying and supporting women facing mental health challenges. We desperately need more of them, yet the Royal College of Midwives has found that eight out of 10 student midwives who are due to qualify this year are not confident that they will find jobs. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that newly qualified midwives are able to find work?

Answer from The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)

I recognise my hon. Friend’s great work in this place to support women on this issue. We recognise that newly qualified midwives are experiencing challenges in gaining that first role, partly due to the record number of midwives in post and to better retention rates. NHS England is working with employers, universities and regional midwifery leads to help midwives find those roles after qualification and to transition into workforce, and we will keep a close eye on that with them.

Partly answered
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Q2 Alex Easton Ind North Down
NHS Northern Ireland
Context

The question is about sharing the learning from the perinatal health initiatives in England with other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly Northern Ireland.

Question

In assessing the impact of the 10-year plan on perinatal health for England, can the Minister assure us that the lessons learned will be shared across the rest of the United Kingdom to enhance care quality and reduce regional disparities, especially in Northern Ireland?

Answer from The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point about the important need to share the learning across the United Kingdom, and I will make sure that we do indeed make efforts to do that.

Answered
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Q3 Jess Brown-Fuller Lib Dem Chichester
NHS
Context

The question addresses the increase in perinatal deaths since 2015 and calls for immediate implementation of all actions from the Ockenden review, which is an inquiry into failures in maternity services.

Question

Over the weekend, The Guardian reported that the number of women dying in the perinatal period had risen sharply since 2015. Families that have been failed and health professionals feel that whether it is perinatal depression or unsafe births, lessons are not being learned and the same errors are repeated in review after review. Alongside the inquiry that the Secretary of State has launched, will the Government immediately implement every action from the Ockenden review and put an end to this national scandal in maternity service?

Answer from The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)

The hon. Lady has raised a really important issue. She highlights the work that the Secretary of State is putting in place to address these issues and finally bring all that together to produce a plan that will assure people, and we are working at pace to ensure that those recommendations are implemented.

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