To ask the Minister of Finance for an update on when a baby loss certificate scheme will be introduced.

ANSWER

I am keen to see this initiative continue to be 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 have 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, has completed its First and Second Stages in the Assembly.

Work will follow – involving officials from the Department of Health – to consult with the stakeholders on the detail of the scheme, to draft the required secondary legislation and to operationalise these processes.

If these matters progress smoothly, I anticipate that the scheme may be operational by the end of the year.