Antenatal Education Classes

Freedom of Information Request from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) regarding Antenatal Education Providers 

Please can you answer the following questions: 

  1. Do you commission or provide antenatal education classes? – yes or no? If yes, what is the annual budget for this/these contracts/service provision? 

No. 

  1. Answer only if you commission or provide antenatal education classes:

(a) Do the practitioners delivering the classes use a specific evidence-based programme/s/model/s? – yes or no?

(i) If yes, which one/s and is it/are they licensed?

(ii) If no, briefly describe the what programme is provided.

(b) Which senior manager/s is/are responsible for the commissioning or provision of this/these service/s? What is/are their email address/s? 

  1. Answer only if you commission the antenatal education classes:

(a) Which organisation provides this/these service/s? What are the contract start and end dates?

(b) Are the classes commissioned individually as a cost and volume contract or as part of a block contract? 

  1. Here is a list of vulnerabilities/adversities that can impact on the ability of parents-to-be to engage with antenatal education:
  • those with mental health difficulties
  • those experiencing social isolation or from a socially marginalised community
  • survivors of domestic abuse
  • those with learning difficulties
  • those with substance use difficulties
  • parents who have had previous children removed into care
  • care leavers
  • teenage parents
  • parents in prison
  • those not speaking English as a first language
  • those with chaotic or transient lifestyles
  • black or minority ethnic communities
  • those with anti-social or offender behaviour
  • asylum seekers

Much of this information is gathered by midwives at booking in appointments.

  1. (a) Do you, or have you in the past, carry/carried out any analysis of this data, or collected and analysed any data, to determine whether parents-to-be experiencing any of these difficulties are less likely to access/engage with antenatal education delivered in your area than those who do? -yes or no?
  2. (b) Do any of the antenatal education classes specifically target vulnerable parents-to-be? -yes or no? If yes, which ones? 
  1. (a) Do you commission/provide the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP)? – yes or no?

(i) If yes, what is the annual budget for this contract/service provision?

(ii) If you commission FNP, which organisation provides this/these service/s? What are the contract start and end dates? 

(b) If you do not commission/provide the Family Nurse Partnership, do you commission/provide any other similar services that target vulnerable parents-to-be? Briefly describe the services.