Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-06-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many midwives have been trained in identifying female genital mutilation (FGM) and in the new mandatory FGM reporting duties, and what percentage of midwives that represents.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department does not hold information on the numbers of midwives who have been trained in identifying female genital mutilation (FGM) or the mandatory reporting duty to report FGM. Content on tackling FGM is included within the Level 3 Safeguarding training curriculum, published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health on behalf of an inter-collegiate group, which all midwives are required to undertake. Many organisations also deliver additional training, the content of which is decided locally.
Last year the Department commissioned Health Education England to develop a range of FGM e-learning sessions available free of charge to National Health Service staff. As of 17 February almost 16,000 modules had been completed.
As part of the Department’s FGM Prevention Programme, a package of FGM awareness materials was sent to all hospitals and general practitioner practices in February 2016. In addition, we have developed a flyer insert about the FGM mandatory reporting duty which will be included in the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) magazine, sent to approximately 45,000 RCM members.
