Debate contribution: Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr John O'Dowd on 7 April 2025.

MLA

Mr John O'Dowd

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

7 April 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4890411

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

I welcome the opportunity to open the debate on this incredibly important legislation. The Bill is an important step forward for our registration services. Few things touch the lives of everyone who lives here in the way that the registration of births and deaths does. Many families have had the positive experience of registering the birth of their child, providing formal recognition of the joyful news of the arrival. Sadly, other families have had the very different experience of registering the death of a loved one or a stillbirth. Regardless of our background and whether we are young or old, births and deaths are part of our shared lived experience, and how we record them matters. As legislators, our job is to make positive change. The Bill will, with Members' approval, afford families who suffer losses early in pregnancy the same formal recognition as those who experience the death of a loved one. It will remedy disparities in birth and stillbirth registration processes for some same-sex couples. It also represents the modernisation of the registration service. It is a Bill that will impact on a great number of people whom we are here to represent, and I hope that it will gain the support of MLAs. I will now consider the three areas of the Bill's focus in turn. First, the Bill will make permanent the temporary provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 that relate to the registration of deaths and stillbirths. Those temporary powers have enabled those registrations to take place remotely and provided for the electronic transfer of documents between parties. Rather than coming into a council office, grieving members of the public can make arrangements to register a death or a stillbirth from their home. They can be assured that the key documents that enable a timely burial will pass electronically between doctors, officials and undertakers. Over the last five years, that has become the normal way in which the vast majority of such registrations take place. The provisions have enabled our registration service to be more modern, more efficient and more effective, and they have enabled us to provide an empathetic service to people at a difficult and often emotionally challenging time around the death of a loved one or following the terrible circumstances of a stillbirth. It is right that we should put no new burden on grieving families and should run our public services in a way that supports them and makes their lives easier. The Bill will therefore put those temporary arrangements on a solid statutory footing; provide permanent powers that sustain remote registration and electronic transfers of documents; and end the use of the Coronavirus Act 2020 powers in the context of the registration service, which Members on all sides are, I know, keen to see. Secondly, the Bill will provide a statutory footing for a baby loss certificate scheme. As Members on all sides will sadly be able to testify, the impact and trauma of losses early in pregnancy are significant. Estimates of how many pregnancies end during the first 24 weeks vary. The charities Sands and Tommy's suggest that there may have been around 4,000 such losses here in 2021, but, because of a lack of reporting, that could underestimate the true figure. For those families, the loss of a baby early in pregnancy is a tragedy. The very real hurt that they feel is often borne in solitary silence, with little formal recognition and little support as they navigate their grief. Under existing law, the registration service can recognise only losses during pregnancy that occur after 24 weeks: losses after that point are treated as stillbirths. However, the Bill will change that and make provision to recognise losses that occur earlier in pregnancy. A new baby loss certificate scheme will offer the opportunity for those who have experienced a baby loss prior to 24 weeks to have their loss formally recognised. While no certificate can undo their pain and grief, the new scheme will help to support families at a very difficult time and provide a voluntary way of acknowledging and recognising their loss. It will confirm that their baby existed and can be used to start a conversation with siblings or other family members. Certificates can help them to start to navigate the grieving process. Where such certificates have been introduced, they have been widely welcomed. That support has been reflected in the large number of questions that my Department has received about the proposed scheme and in the supportive and often personal letters that have been received on the matter. I am grateful to all those who have been in touch and have, often bravely, talked about their experiences. It is important to me that families, charities and third-sector organisations have the opportunity to shape the certificate scheme so that it meets their needs and expectations.

To that end, we will hold a public consultation on the new scheme. That consultation will help to determine the details of the scheme, including consideration of who can apply for a baby loss certificate, the time period that it will cover and the content of the certificate. Once the consultation is complete, secondary legislation will be brought forward to implement the scheme. I am grateful to the Minister of Health, whose officials have worked with those in my Department to bring forward the legislation. I look forward to working with Minister Nesbitt to specify the detail of the scheme that will follow. If those matters progress smoothly, I anticipate that the scheme will be operational by the end of the year.

Thirdly, the Bill will rectify differences in the registration process for some couples. Under current law, different birth and stillbirth registration options exist for same-sex and heterosexual couples who are neither married nor in a civil partnership. Same-sex female couples that are in that position cannot jointly register a birth or stillbirth in the same way as heterosexual couples. Some second female parents do not have the same birth and stillbirth registration options as the father in heterosexual couples. The Bill will fix those disparities, ensuring that unmarried, non-civil-partnered couples have the same choices about how to register a birth or stillbirth, regardless of whether they are a same-sex or a heterosexual couple. That change will remedy our legislation in order to ensure that there is equality in the registration process. As I outlined, the Bill will impact on a large number of the people whom we are here to represent, often at some of the most difficult and challenging times of their life. It contains provisions that make permanent the steps that we have taken to modernise the registration services. It introduces important remedies to disparities in our birth and stillbirth processes. It provides the statutory footing that is required for a new baby loss certificate scheme. I urge Members to support the Bill, and I commend it to the Assembly.

1,164 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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