In Parliament Kerry Pollard has been a good friend to midwives and to the Royal College of Midwives.

He is an excellent advocate for midwifery and has sponsored and co-sponsored early day motions relating directly to midwives, mothers and babies. These have included: midwifery partnership, midwifery education, midwifery standards, testing new babies for deafness, and breastfeeding.

On campaign issues (including recruitment, retention and pay for midwives, and public protection which the RCM raised during recent changes to statutory regulation) Kerry Pollard has been willing to sit in the Commons for many hours to catch the Speaker’s eye so that midwifery issues could be raised. In recent years he has also sponsored four receptions on behalf of the College.

At local level he has campaigned with midwives and mothers to retain midwifery services in Hemel Hempstead and St Albans. Partly as a result of his efforts the General Secretary of the Royal College of Midwives opened a midwife-led unit at Hemel Hempstead at the end of March 2003. Kerry meets with local midwives on a regular basis and he has spoken at RCM meetings and Conferences.