AQW 24757/22-27

Mrs Michelle Guy
Alliance Party
Lagan Valley

Tabled Date: 20/03/2025
Answered On Date: 02/04/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Finance to detail any plans in place to ensure that bereaved parents are engaged and consulted with in relation to forthcoming legislation on the baby loss certificate scheme.

Answer:

I am keen to see a Baby Loss Certificate Scheme taken forward as quickly as possible to give bereaved families the opportunity to have formal recognition of their loss. I want all parents and families who suffered the devastating loss of a baby to feel that their grief is recognised. The Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill, which will provide a power to make regulations to form a scheme, completed its First Stage in the Assembly on 25 March 2025.

It is my intention that this scheme will be preceded by a public consultation in order to take the views of families who have been impacted Baby Loss. It is important to me that the final scheme is shaped by the findings of that consultation. My Department will continue to work with the Department of Health to ensure that the legislation we bring forward to enact the Baby Loss Certificate Scheme reflects the needs of people here.