To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many midwife-only maternity units are in operation at non-acute hospital sites: and if he will list them. [110955]

This information is not collected centrally. The Department does not advocate any one single model of maternity care in preference to others, but acknowledges that midwife-led units play important role in the local network of services available to women during pregnancy and labour and after birth.The maternity records collected through the Hospital Episodes Statistics system are usually identified only to trust level, rather than to any specific unit within the trust. Some trusts provide information regarding the staff group with lead responsibility for care, for example, midwife-led or consultant-led, but this does not allow the identification of midwife-only units.