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Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee

Fifth Special Report - Black maternal health: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report

Published 30 June 2023

Women and Equalities Committee Black maternal health Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Third Report - Black maternal health.

This is the government's response, published 30 June 2023.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the report and states it remains "committed to tackling maternal inequalities", but declines several of the Committee's specific recommendations while pointing to existing NHS England work.

  • On the Maternity Disparities Taskforce, it is "happy to update the Committee on a six-monthly basis", but "will not publish minutes" or measures for gauging the Taskforce's success, giving reasons relating to openness of discussion and flexibility.
  • On a cross-government target and strategy for eliminating maternal health disparities, it does "not believe a target and strategy is the best approach" and will instead measure progress through the Equity and Equality Guidance metrics.
  • On training, NHS England "will carry out a scoping exercise" on co-ordinating the proposed review; on the maternal morbidity indicator, the Department of Health and Social Care "is considering how this can be delivered", with no timescale given.
  • On Taskforce membership, it considers the current membership "sufficient" and does not commit to reserved seats. It states that all local maternity systems "will publish their equity and equality action plan by 31 March 2024".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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