Recommendation 18

We are concerned by the Government’s decision to cut the Maternity Service Development Fund from £95 million to £2 million. While ICBs still have access to this funding, maternity services must now compete with other local priorities. While performance metrics in the 2025–26 NHS Assessment Framework aim to ensure accountability, they do not guarantee sufficient funding will be directed towards maternity services. Without sustained oversight and dedicated investment, maternity care risks losing momentum, 34 widening disparities, including in Black maternal care, and compromising critical reforms. We are also concerned about how the dissolution of NHS England and its absorption into the Department of Health and Social Care might impact the NHS’s ability to monitor maternity spending and maintain national oversight of progress. (Conclusion, Paragraph 90)