Pregnancy, births and maternity: policy context

Poverty 

Households with a baby aged under 1 are identified as a priority group in the Scottish strategy for tackling child poverty.   

Social security benefits available to pregnant women in Scotland include:  

• the Best Start Grant (which includes a Pregnancy and Baby Payment)  
• Best Start Food Payments (also including extra payments to low-income pregnant women),  
• Scottish Child Payment. 

Maternity care and birth outcomes 

The best start: a five-year forward plan for maternity and neonatal care in Scotland sets out a vision for the future planning, design and safe delivery of high-quality maternity and neonatal services in Scotland. 

A Maternal and Neonatal Hub was developed by ISD in 2019 to ensure timely and accurate data on outcomes for mothers and children are recorded.  

The Universal Health Visiting Pathway in Scotland (introduced 2015) sets out the minimum core home visiting programme to be offered to all families by Health Visitors. 

Maternal and infant wellbeing 

The national framework on Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition (2011) sets out actions which can be taken by NHS Boards, local authorities and others to improve the nutrition of pregnant women, babies and young children. 

All maternity units and community NHS services in Scotland have either received or are working towards UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) accreditation.  

All pregnant women in Scotland are entitled to free vitamins.   

Each new child born in Scotland received a baby box of essential items for a child’s first weeks and months to support parents.  

Information for professionals on pregnancy and the early years can be found on the Pregnancy and Early Years section of the NHS Health Scotland website.