Vital Signs: Maternity & neonatal

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers debate sweeping maternity failures as Amos report lands and government promises commissioner and action plan

1. 01The publication of Baroness Amos's national maternity and neonatal investigation report on 30 June 2026 dominated proceedings. In a Commons statement, Health Secretary James Murray (Labour, Ealing North) described the NHS as 'still failing women, babies and their families on a scale that shames our society', announced the appointment of the first statutory maternity and neonatal commissioner, pledged to extend Martha's rule to all maternity and neonatal units, published new national triage standards and committed the national taskforce he chairs to producing an action plan by the end of the year. In the Lords the same day, Baroness Merron (Labour) restated those commitments and confirmed an extra £41 million for maternity and neonatal estates on top of £145 million already invested.
2. 02Donna Ockenden's report into Nottingham University Hospitals, presented to Parliament on 29 June 2026, prompted a parallel set of commitments. In that statement, the Secretary of State apologised on behalf of the NHS for failings at Nottingham and pledged to use the forthcoming Hillsborough law duty of candour to compel witnesses to give evidence in the upcoming Leeds and Sussex reviews. In the Lords, Baroness Merron (Labour) confirmed that once the Hillsborough law received Royal Assent, the duty of candour would be extended to those reviews, calling it 'totally unacceptable' that senior Nottingham staff had refused to participate in Ockenden's inquiry.
3. 03The Liberal Democrats pressed the government on the speed and adequacy of its response throughout the period. In the maternity services debate on 14 July 2026, Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat, North Shropshire) told the Commons that NHS Resolution figures showed maternity made up almost £35 billion of the £60 billion set aside for future negligence payments, and called on the Secretary of State to accelerate implementation of the Amos and Ockenden recommendations rather than waiting for the end-of-year action plan. Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat) told the Lords on 2 July 2026 that six out of ten maternity units had been assessed as unsafe by the CQC and asked the government to guarantee one-to-one midwifery care during labour and a consultant on every maternity ward around the clock.
4. 04Racial and other inequalities in maternity care were raised repeatedly. In the 30 June 2026 Commons statement, the Secretary of State confirmed that black babies are still more than twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies and that black women are almost three times more likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after birth than white women, and pledged to mandate every trust to complete the perinatal equity and anti-discrimination programme by the end of 2027. Jen Craft (Labour, Thurrock), Marsha De Cordova (Labour, Battersea) and Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour, Clapham and Brixton Hill) all called in that debate for binding national standards and accountability mechanisms to address structural racism, while Dr Marie Tidball (Labour, Penistone and Stocksbridge) highlighted that disabled women are 44 per cent more likely to suffer a stillbirth than non-disabled women.
5. 05Beyond the major reviews, several specific issues were raised across the period. Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat, Kingston and Surbiton) told the Prime Minister at Engagements on 2 September 2026 that North Devon's maternity unit had been closed for three weeks due to staff shortages, with women travelling up to two hours and being taught how to give birth in their cars; Andy Burnham (Labour, Makerfield) acknowledged the situation was 'not acceptable' but said he could not commit to reopening within days, pointing to structural midwife shortages across the country. The Infants, Parents and Carers Bill, debated on 4 September 2026, sought to place neonatal and early parenting support on a statutory footing, with Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West) as its sponsor and cross-party support including from Michelle Welsh (Labour, Sherwood Forest), the government's national maternity adviser.