Baby Care Units: Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the correlation between maternity unit infrastructure quality and infant mortality rates in areas of high deprivation.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
No specific assessment has been made of the correlation between maternity unit infrastructure quality and infant mortality rates in areas of high deprivation.
In 2024, NHS England invited all trusts providing maternity and neonatal care to complete a maternity and neonatal infrastructure survey to establish a baseline of their estate, with findings published in September 2025. These findings resulted in ringfenced funding in 2025/26 to improve the maternity and neonatal critical safety infrastructure.
The Government is investing a further £41 million to tackle urgent safety risks in maternity and neonatal facilities, building on £145 million already committed since April 2025. This funding will address issues such as fire safety, ventilation issues, and outdated infrastructure, creating safer environments for mothers and newborns.
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