Andy MacNae
MP for Rossendale and Darwen · Labour · United Kingdom
“My right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham) has made it clear that reindustrialisation will be a key priority for this Government, but in order to be meaningful this must be done with true ambition, delivering good jobs, hope and opportunity in every part of the country, including the small towns of Rossendale and Darwen…”
“I have long been a proponent of the principles of LGR, which Lancashire and my constituents have desperately needed for a long time. It is a chance to reinvent local government.”
“We are good at making the best of things, so I ask the Secretary of State to work with me and us to bring in the much more significant capacity and capability funding that we need to reverse that deprivation and catch up with neighbouring places, such as Manchester.”
“There is the 70-year-old lady with spinal cancer who was stuck there for 72 hours; the young woman who was a historical sexual assault victim, physically shaking with fear at being left in a corridor surrounded by men; or the 90-year-old with dementia and double incontinence, reliant on her daughter to change and clean her, and desperate…”
“The investment in prevention and in repairing the massive damage done by the previous Government to our valued health system is crucial and fundamental. We are finally seeing progress in Blackburn, and that is because of additional resources and support from NHS England and the Government’s getting it right first time initiative.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) for securing this debate and all my esteemed colleagues for covering the issue so brilliantly and with such expertise. You will be glad to hear, Madam Deputy Speaker, that that allows me to be brief and to focus on Blackburn A&E.”
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Every one of 389 lines we hold for Andy MacNae, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 8.
“Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before we saw another crash. They had spent the year calling for speed cameras, yet nothing was done. The message here is clear: communities know where the risks are, and we need to listen. That is why last month I launched a road safety campaign in Rossendale and Darwen, calling on Lancashire to adopt a new road safety approach that properly resources our road safety partnership and acts to identify and address high-risk roads before incidents occur. Our survey has already had hundreds of responses, and this coming weekend I am hosting roundtables across the constituency to bring together residents, councillors and police to identify the high-risk areas and discuss how we can make them safer.”
“Nationally, we must be strategic and dynamic with our interventions, aiming for the greatest impact by focusing on higher-risk groups. An empowered road safety board and the new road safety investigation branch could be vital in keeping policy responsive. It would be good to hear from the Minister when the board will be established, what its powers will be and whether she expects it to meet more regularly than once a year. With speeding being a key factor in 56% of all fatal collisions, this is an area where targeted action is essential. The Minister has committed to update the guidance on speed limits and enforcement, and the need for that is urgent. Just last week I was with residents on a road notorious for speeding, looking at three wrecked cars on the spot where a fatality occurred last year.”
“Absolutely; I welcome my hon. Friend’s intervention. It is outdated guidance, and it is used as an excuse to avoid taking the action that people need to see. It does not have to be this way. Neighbouring authorities—we have heard about the example of West Yorkshire—proactively listen to schools and their communities. That community-led approach must become our baseline, because listening to communities is vital. Partnerships also need resources to deliver the change we need; too often they are constrained by low levels of funding. Allowing councils to retain the fees from road offence fixed penalties, which in some cases raise millions of pounds each year, would make a real difference if ringfenced locally.”
“I thank the Minister for his positive engagement and his willingness to listen. It has made a big difference. His announcement will be a big relief to pubs throughout my constituency, and it shows that the Government are on their side. However, he has rightly recognised the need for more fundamental reform, so I welcome the announcement of the pub and hotel valuation methodology reviews and the high street strategy. Does he agree that this is an opportunity to think further about how the business rates system, and indeed the tax system as a whole, could be used to actively incentivise entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses and create jobs in the places where our communities need them most?”
“Finally, I recognise that safe physical infrastructure and, ideally, getting horses off the road and on to good bridleways or greenways can make a massive difference. What more can be done to ensure that local authorities genuinely have the funding to deliver the safe infrastructure for which local partnerships, including users —horse riders and others—regularly identify a need?”
“In covering safe roads, roadsides, road users, speeds, vehicles and post-crash response, it is truly comprehensive. In that regard, it offers a huge number of opportunities to directly impact the safety of horse riders, such as opportunities for education, enforcement, better street design and technology that protects vulnerable road users from human error. I think the strategy is truly comprehensive and can address many of the areas that have been identified without necessarily needing to identify horse riders specifically. Members have mentioned that the strategy recognises that more needs to be done to deliver on the intent of the 2022 highway code and its hierarchy of road users, in order to recognise the vulnerability of some of those users. Will the Minister reflect on what more can be done to deliver on that intent?”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. In the interests of time, I shall ditch what I assure you would have been a fascinating speech and reflect on just a couple of areas. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) on securing this debate. I very much agree with and support the points he made. However, I slightly challenge the idea that because the road safety strategy does not mention horse riding specifically and repeatedly, it is not truly covered. The strategy is based on a safe system approach that recognises that all users are vulnerable, that human error is inevitable but deaths and serious injuries are not, and that the road and vehicle environment should be designed to protect all users as much as possible.”
“A happy new year to you, Mr Speaker. In this new year, I am looking forward to seeing how the policies that this Government have delivered in their first 18 months have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of people in Rossendale and Darwen. Despite much-needed investment, including from the Pride in Place programme, Rossendale remains the only borough in the north with no commuter rail link. The fragmented nature of Lancashire politics has held that back for years, but the local government reorganisation that this Government are delivering now finally gives us the chance to give this project a fresh start. Will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time on how devolution can enable projects, such as the Rawtenstall rail link, to deliver vital transport to local areas?”
“I thank the Minister for her statement and her great personal commitment to this vital issue. It is clear that the Government have listened to families and the road safety community and followed the evidence. She rightly recognises the importance of local partnerships in delivering on the ambitions of the strategy. Unfortunately, in Lancashire the Reform-led county council insists on waiting for fatalities and serious injuries to occur before acting, seemingly regardless of concerns raised by residents. Does the Minister agree that to deliver on this strategy and save lives, local authorities such as Lancashire must have a more proactive approach by listening to communities, identifying risk areas and acting before people are killed or injured?”
“Now, thanks to the Government and to lobbying by Labour MPs across Lancashire, the county council will get a massive increase—£310 million more—by 2028, so Reform has no more excuses. Will the Leader of the House join me in calling on Reform to stop the cuts and focus instead on delivering the services that we all rely on?”
“A very merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to all House staff and colleagues. Since we were elected, my Lancashire colleagues and I have been campaigning for more funding for our local services. When new local government funding was announced yesterday, I was really pleased to see that the Government have properly listened. Funding is now following need, and a decade of austerity is ending. It is great to see Blackburn with Darwen borough council and Rossendale borough council getting significant increases. We are working with council leaders to ensure that the impacts of that funding are felt in every community. However, most key services in Rossendale are delivered by Lancashire county council. They have been under threat since Reform took control, with cuts to nurseries, gritting and care homes all being considered.”
“It is absolutely remarkable. When I moved to Bacup back in the 2000s, I was stunned to find that Chris Cairns was the professional. He was a great New Zealand all-rounder. These places have deep histories.”
“Perhaps their greatest moment, which epitomises the nature of Rawtenstall and Bacup’s rivalry, was the championship title game of 1922. Both teams were tied at the top of the league and had to play a play-off in Haslingden in front of 5,000 spectators. They got as far as the fourth innings and fell out over the playing conditions. For the next five days, the teams turned up on alternate days, until the match was finally abandoned and they shared the title. That rivalry continues to this day. One of the great factors of the Lancashire league is the international professionals that we welcome. There are too many to list. Rawtenstall had Sydney Barnes for three years—one of the true greats. Bacup had Everton Weekes, at the height of his powers. In the year he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year, he was playing at Bacup.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin) for securing this debate. It gives me a chance to wax on about surely the greatest cricket league in the country—the historic Lancashire league, of which my constituency of Rossendale and Darwen has been at the heart throughout. Three of the founding 14 members—Haslingden, Rawtenstall and Bacup—were there right from the start. Haslingden is just outside of my constituency, unfortunately. It was the first club, formed in 1853. Rawtenstall and Bacup have proud histories. Bacup has been at Lanehead Lane since 1860—160 years at the same cricket ground—and I think it is England’s highest sporting ground. Clearly, weather plays a factor. Rawtenstall has been at Bacup Road since 1886. These clubs are steeped in history.”
“It is not a barrier, but it brings much value and vital expertise into the mix. I will finish with one final reflection on funding, from the point of view of someone who lives in a small town and whose cricket clubs are in small towns. The role of sports clubs in small towns and villages is disproportionate to that of those in big towns and cities. They are vital, so I ask the Minister to consider how our funding approaches and prioritisation might reflect the value that those clubs—not just cricket clubs, but football clubs, rugby clubs and so on—have to our small towns. They are the heart of our communities and we must retain them.”
“I think we all recognise that there is perhaps a disconnect between the investment we put into sport and the great value of sport across society in terms of health, wellbeing and economic outcomes. One question I am sure the Minister will want to reflect on is the extent to which our investment matches the huge benefits that sport can bring to our communities. In that regard, I associate myself with the remarks made by my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield about Sport England and its role as a statutory consultee. To get the benefits, we have to have the facilities retained in our communities. We have to protect them, and Sport England plays a vital role there. I cannot remember the exact stat, but it only objected to something like 3%—a tiny number—of the applications that it was consulted on.”
“Indeed, the sausage sandwiches in the clubhouse afterwards are equally inspiring in their own way. As I said, all these clubs have great facilities, which have become the heart of their communities. The first birthday party I went to at my kid’s school was in the cricket clubhouse. We have our town board meetings in Darwen clubhouse. We have so many major, vital community events in these community sports facilities; they are so important to us. The other thing these clubs have in common is that they could do so much more for our communities, which brings us to the funding question. Some great stuff has been done with grassroots funding over the years, but, as all colleagues have said, it has a fragile status.”
“That is one of the great risks in our patch: we have these wonderful summer programmes—All Stars and Dynamos—and yet the spark can be so easily lost during the winter. Innovations like cricket domes are brilliant value for money. The Darwen club has already established a partnership with 13 local schools, which gives them a conduit into the game all year round. These are clubs with all sorts of different histories, but what they have in common is brilliant youth programmes engaging kids and great community facilities. At Bacup, where my son was involved in the All Stars, we have brilliant, inspiring trainers—Terry, Lawrence, Ben and Sam. On a Sunday morning in the summer, the sight of all the groups across the pitch is wonderful and inspiring.”
“Darwen are relative newcomers to the Lancashire league, only joining in 2017, but were champions in 2022. The club has gone from strength to strength in recent years, under the brilliant leadership of chair Chris Lowe. It has drawn in money through partnerships with Blackburn with Darwen council, the Aldridge trust and the ECB. It has invested in a brilliant new club house and, more recently, a cricket dome, one of only two currently in the country, and a brilliant indoor facility for kids. I was involved in opening it recently. It is a truly inspiring sight and it is so important that we have these year-round facilities in places like Lancashire, because kids want to play all year.”
“I remember that great series of 2005 where we all saw the Ashes on Channel 4 playing out with great drama. It was amazing. There is no doubt that access to those moments on terrestrial TV is massively important. Through the all-party parliamentary group for cricket, my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield has been convening many meetings around this issue, with broadcasters. There are subtleties to it, but the fundamental is that people need to be able to see their heroes. That is one of the great things about the Lancashire league. People could go down and see Viv Richards or Everton Weekes playing. Past generations have stories about seeing these players in the flesh—it was massively inspiring. Modern formats like the Hundred play a real role here. The number of kids in the audiences there is really inspiring.”
“This week, residents in Rossendale have once again experienced massive disruption and delays due to roadworks. This time it was emergency works by United Utilities, where necessary four-way lights were not being operated according to the permit. My office has been working with Lancashire county council to get promises of action, but as of this morning there has been no change. My residents are rightly fed up with this happening time and again. Since being elected, I have called on the county council to properly enforce street works and to introduce a lane rental scheme, which could address congestion on our busiest roads. I am once again calling on the Reform council leadership to take urgent action. To shine a light on the issue, will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time on the issue of street works?”
“Our fiscal rules are vital. Maintaining fiscal discipline is an inherent part of delivering a virtuous cycle of investment, growth and renewal, but there is broad agreement that our fiscal framework, with its reliance on highly uncertain forecasts and pass-fail requirements, is leading to speculation, policy volatility and short-termism. We all pay for that through higher borrowing costs and depressed growth. It is clear that there is a better way that could provide greater stability and enable us to meet fiscal rules and build headroom, while incentivising long-term growth and demand reduction policies. That is what we should strive for, and the time to make it happen is now.”
“One such change is that from 2027, the charter introduces a tolerance range for the borrowing rule of plus or minus 0.5% of GDP. That is a big improvement, but there is a strong argument for bringing it forward to 2026 and considering a range for the debt rule too. We could go further. The Institute for Fiscal Studies is exploring a traffic-light approach based around compliance with a wide range of Budget policy objectives. Thinking about longer-term risk management, we could do a lot more to capture the long-term costs of inaction and show how we are offsetting future risk and bringing down long-term debt projections. Proposals have also been made about reforming the OBR’s overall remit and methodology, along with revising the role of the Treasury, which rightly poses fundamental questions about the best tools for judging compliance.”
“That is especially problematic for the kind of policies we really need the most—those that prevent ill health, reduce worklessness and manage long-term liabilities. It is essential to address all those areas if we want to bring down debt over the long term. All that inevitably dampens investment and is bad for growth, and speculation and policy volatility are hardly good for bond rates either. Is there a better way? Many economists and institutions believe so. We need to recognise the really important step that the Chancellor took in this Budget; moving to a single formal assessment each year reduces speculation and policy volatility. That is a significant step and, as it will require the charter for Budget responsibility to be amended, it opens the possibility of further positive change.”
“For a start, binary judgments risk binary responses. A marginal fail is seen as a crisis requiring immediate action, whereas a marginal pass is taken to imply that everything is fine. Given the massive uncertainties in the forecast, the reality is that there is actually no difference between the two situations. Overall, this pressure for lurches between crisis and complacency, driving policy recalibrations in response to binary judgments or changes to forecast methodology, is simply not conducive to policy stability. There is also a damaging effect on policy design. A pass-fail mindset inevitably incentivises funding policies that deliver easily quantified impacts within the forecast timescale while discouraging longer-term, less quantifiable ones.”
“On the one hand, we have the requirement for a binary pass-fail judgment; on the other hand, we have massive uncertainty and significant exclusions within the forecast. How are those compatible? The honest truth is that they are not, but that is what the rules currently require, so focus turns to the midpoint of a probability range, which is called a central point estimate. It has no economic meaning beyond being the midpoint. The OBR openly acknowledges that the number has “essentially no chance of being the actual outcome”, yet it is used as if it is the forecast, giving rise to statements such as, “The Chancellor has £9.9 billion of headroom.” Taken at face value, such statements fundamentally misrepresent the inherent uncertainty. The forced pass-fail system and excessive focus on point estimates has real-world consequences.”
“Our fiscal framework is not working. This is the structure that is supposed to manage compliance with our fiscal rules and deliver stability and confidence, yet we are seeing quite the opposite. Our current framework is leading to speculation, policy volatility and short-termism, so is there a better way? The fundamental problem with the current framework is that it requires the OBR to make binary pass-fail judgments on whether the rules are being met, using highly uncertain forecasts of what the economy might look like in 2029. To compound that, the OBR is allowed to count only the impacts of policies that have a high degree of certainty and evidence. That means that for anything new and innovative, it is likely that only the costs, not the benefits, will be included.”
“Road safety should be above local politics, so will the Leader of the House agree to a debate in Government time on this important matter?”
“It is national Road Safety Week and soon the Government will unveil their much-anticipated road safety strategy. In my constituency, road safety is now the issue that is raised most often with me and our neighbourhood police, but when we raise these concerns with the Reform leadership at Lancashire county council, they consistently refuse to take action. The Reform policy is to wait for accidents to take place, stating that there need to be at least 10 collisions, of which 20% must have killed or seriously injured, before action is taken. This flies in the face of common sense and is an insult to our residents, who see close calls and near misses every day. We must listen to our communities. I have been calling on the leadership of Lancashire county council to work with me, but so far they have refused even to meet.”
“Although the F-35 is a brilliant aircraft, it is, as has been pointed out, a very different aircraft from the Typhoon, with different design philosophy and different capabilities. That creates an opportunity for a blended Air Force. The F-35 is primarily a stealthy, ground-attack, precision strike aircraft able to penetrate heavily defended areas. The Typhoon is an air dominance fighter with a higher top speed, faster acceleration, better climb rate and superior sustained turn performance. The Typhoon is also compatible with a full range of British-made missiles such as the Meteor and Spear 3, whereas the F-35 currently is not. There is an opportunity for a blend there. We do not need to choose one or the other; we can bring the capabilities together to create an Air Force truly fit for the 2030s and onwards.”
“In any case, the fundamental point, as has been highlighted, is that we need more new fast jets. We had 137 Typhoons. Thirty tranche 1 aircraft will be retired by 2027, and that leaves 107 tranche 2 and tranche 3 fighters, which are ageing and will be retired by 2040. Despite upgrades, they do not have the full range of capabilities that could be delivered with the latest tranche 5. For sure, we all get very excited by the potential of the Tempest global combat air programme, but it will be, at best, the late 2030s before it comes online. As has been said, it is not a direct replacement or comparator for the Typhoon, so we have a clear capability gap to fill somehow. Part of that is being addressed by the purchase of the F-35, which creates an opportunity.”
“As has been highlighted, it is imperative that we secure the sovereign capability, production base and competitive position for the next decade and more. We need to finish the job. I have come to the conclusion that the only way of doing so is through a UK Typhoon order. That is what we need to maintain our world-leading position, the skills and the expertise that were so crucial in securing the Turkey deal. The decision was not taken by the previous Government and it now falls to this one. A UK order would mean that maximum value is retained here. We will hear all the arguments about the sections being made at Samlesbury for assembly at Warton. I agree with the argument that a UK order would also build confidence in the quality and longevity of the aircraft, which would bolster our ability to secure future international orders.”
“It is truly a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. I congratulate the hon. Member for Fylde (Mr Snowden), a fellow Lancashire MP, on the passion with which he spoke. I associate myself with all the remarks that have been made, and will be made, in welcoming the Turkey deal. As has been said, it was a massive boost for workers at Samlesbury and Warton, and has been received with great enthusiasm. My hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Mr Foster), the hon. Member for Fylde and I have long been calling for it, and it comes on the back of huge amounts of hard work from Ministers and civil servants in the Department. We must not underestimate the massive impact that the order will have, but it is not job done; we now need to look at how we can kick on.”
“The hon. Gentleman is reaching levels of technicality that I do not fully understand, but I think the fundamental point is that we should strike a balance and try to get the best of both. The Typhoon is a platform that can deliver capabilities that we very much need. As has been pointed out, other Eurofighter partner countries have taken exactly that decision. In December 2024, Spain ordered an additional 25 Typhoons. At the same time, Italy ordered 25 to replace its tranche 1s. Last month, Germany placed an order for another 20 Typhoons, taking its total order pipeline to 58. Those countries have protected their domestic fast jet manufacturing capability while ensuring that they have a mix of capabilities to address the full range of conflict scenarios that, sadly, we can look forward to.”
“We have the opportunity to build on that and give the ultimate vote of confidence by ordering UK fighters that will maintain our balanced and multifunctional fast jet capability through the next decade and more. I hope that the defence procurement strategy delivers just that.”
“The fact that we can go into schools in places like Bacup, Whitworth and Darwen and talk about some of the best engineering and technical jobs in the world being just down the road is invaluable to building aspiration in places that need it most. The apprenticeships and career opportunities at not just at BAE, but the many innovative companies in the supply chain, mean that Lancashire and the north-west is the best place for anyone who wants to work in the cutting-edge manufacturing industries of the future. Surely we should not be happy with merely sustaining that jewel in the crown. Rather, we should seek to strengthen and continually build skills, scale and competitive advantage. Turkey chose to order the Typhoon because the experience, quality and skills of workers at Samlesbury and Warton cannot be matched.”
“The right hon. Gentleman makes a reasonable point. I would not use the same sort of pejorative language, but a recent National Audit Office report highlighted exactly those integration issues and, as I have pointed out, the Meteor and Spear 3 are not currently compatible with the F-35. There is no doubt that sovereign capability means maintaining all the controls to deliver the independence and resilience that a tier 1 nation surely requires in its defence strategies. I will briefly take a wider perspective. Lancashire is home to world-class defence industries, as we all know. Every single growth plan that talks about Lancashire’s future has those at its heart.”
“T4. Will the Chancellor please update the House on progress made with the implementation of the Green Book review and that change, as a result, might better enable investment in small northern towns such as those that make up Rossendale and Darwen?”
“Reform-led Lancashire county council proposes to close a gritting depot that serves my borough of Rossendale, which could cause absolute chaos this winter. That is just one of many cuts that Reform is considering, with nurseries and care homes already in the firing line. Will the Leader of the House join me in calling on Lancashire county council to listen to our communities and stop cutting the services that we rely on?”
“Taken together, we can make what has been a story of national tragedy into one of national pride, delivering compassionate and exemplary care for women and babies when they need it most. This is the challenge and the opportunity before us, and we must not fall short.”
“To do this, we must deliver on the full potential of a national investigation. Clear, impactful and binding actions must address systemic weaknesses and embedded cultures. To ensure long-term focus, we must also adopt ambitious, measurable targets to align with the NHS 10-year plan. These steps to reduce baby loss must come in tandem with a compassionate system of care for those who do experience loss despite our best efforts. To this end, the Government should issue national guidance on commissioning specialist mental health services for bereaved parents. Finally, the Government must ensure the sector has capable and accountable regulators to ensure that professional standards are maintained.”
“This cannot continue, and if we are to deliver on our maternity safety ambitions, we need an effective, culturally healthy regulator. The NMC still has a long way to go until it could contribute in this way. The Government must continue to offer rigorous scrutiny, demanding accountability and ensuring that the NMC becomes the regulator that nurses and midwives, as well as the public as a whole, deserve. To sum up, each year babies die who should not have died, every year mothers are failed and harmed, and every year parents experience profound loss without the support to deal with it. We cannot continue as we are. We have both an opportunity and an obligation to act. This Government have the chance to drive a change that will be felt in the lives of families for generations.”
“In an area as critical as maternity safety, an effective and accountable regulator is a crucial component, yet issues with the NMC are long term and well documented. As was noted in relation to the 2024 culture review of the organisation: “Good nurses are finding themselves being investigated for years over minor issues and bad nurses are escaping sanction because of a system that’s not functioning as well as it should.” Such failures can have tragic consequences. For instance, the NMC cleared a midwife who had been referred to it following the avoidable death of a baby in Morecambe Bay in 2008. In 2016, the same midwife was linked to the death of another baby, and subsequently dismissed by their trust for actions fundamentally below acceptable standards.”
“It is not good enough, and services must recognise that fathers and partners also grieve. So I urge the Government to issue clear standards and national guidance for commissioning specialist mental health support services for bereaved parents, including fathers and partners. Support must also be given to healthcare professionals, who can themselves be impacted by baby deaths. Training remains inaccessible for many healthcare professionals, and staff often lack the time to attend sessions. Bereavement care training must be available during work hours, and overall we must ensure staff are equipped to support grieving families and to look after themselves. Finally, I want to touch briefly on the role of regulators, most notably the Nursing and Midwifery Council.”
“I have described the challenges that my wife Vanessa has faced in accessing specialist support, and she is by no means alone. Sands’ 2025 report found that over 80% of bereaved parents needed specialist psychological support post discharge, yet despite the introduction of NHS maternal mental health services in England, only 17% of bereaved parents were actually able to access it. We must also recognise the additional barriers that fathers and partners face in accessing support. Only 29% of services offered basic assessments to fathers in 2024, and those are often quite perfunctory. One father explained how he was assessed and recommended for psychological interventions and a referral to a clinic, yet the only support he actually received was a leaflet outlining local self-help groups.”
“The national bereavement care pathway aims to standardise bereavement care, and states that this should be given by trained staff, with dedicated grieving spaces provided, opportunities for parents to have meaningful moments with their baby offered and referrals for further support made. Since its 2017 launch, NHS trusts have gradually adopted the pathway, with full coverage achieved in 2024. However, voluntary uptake and a lack of ringfenced funding have led to highly inconsistent implementation, and sometimes it is entirely lacking. A bereaved mother described the hospital support she received as: “Terrible. No aftercare whatsoever. I felt abandoned. My mental health spiralled due to lack of support and not knowing where to get help… I left that hospital with a broken heart.” Bereavement support must continue post discharge.”
“The Government’s commitment to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap is welcome, but it must explicitly include closing the black and Asian stillbirth and neonatal mortality gaps. Establishing routine data collection on miscarriages should be prioritised. Once that is established, an ambition to reduce the miscarriage rate should be added. I urge the Government to be ambitious, and to implement these new targets, which will help to guide and inform the improvements that will be made in services in the years to come. Thirdly, we must urgently improve bereavement care for parents in hospitals and the mental health support they receive after discharge. Losing a child is devastating, and compassionate care, both immediately and in the long term, is vital to processing grief.”
“It is a stark reminder of how important this issue is that 2,500 fewer babies would have died if the targets had been reached. The UK’s baby death rate is still considerably worse than those of the best-performing countries in Europe. To match those countries, Sands and Tommy’s have proposed new ambitions, with an end date of 2035 to align with the NHS 10-year plan. I apologise for the list, but they include a stillbirth rate of two per 1,000 total births; a neonatal mortality rate of 0.5 per 1,000 live births for babies born at 24 weeks’ gestation and over; a preterm birth rate of 6%, with disaggregated data for iatrogenic and spontaneous preterm births; and eliminating inequalities in these outcomes based on ethnicity and deprivation.”
“The inquiry must identify the reasons why past recommendations have not been implemented or resulted in change. It must be willing to address any embedded cultural, structural or governance factors that undermine quality, safety and accountability. When the investigation reports and the taskforce releases its action plan, the Government must fully resource the delivery and ensure there is robust monitoring and real accountability. Secondly, it is crucial that the Government set new national maternity safety ambitions. In 2015, the then Government announced ambitions to halve relative rates of stillbirth, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries by 2025. Alongside that, they also announced an ambition to reduce preterm births from 8% to 6%. Those ambitions are due to expire and, in any case, were never on track to being met.”
“We have the investigation being led by a chair of the highest reputation, we have a commitment to a taskforce to deliver on recommendations, and we have many colleagues in this place who are determined to make sure that the voices of families are heard and acted on. We must get this right, so before I hand over to colleagues, I would like to make four key asks. First, the investigation must provide clear and binding steps to achieve national change in maternity care, particularly to tackle the inequality of outcomes that is dependent on the race or wealth of the mother. To this end, the investigation must set out clear, consistent approaches to safety across all maternity units in England, which means unequivocally defining “safety”—amazingly, there is no shared definition of “safety” across maternity services.”