More than 60,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to sever its contract with Bounty amid claims the controversial parenting club is exploiting new mothers and fathers.
Bounty sales reps distribute child benefit claim forms to new parents on hospital wards as part of a contract with HM Revenue and Customs.
The reps typically ask for new mothers' personal details which they can then sell on to third parties.
Some new mothers have complained that they thought they were required to hand over their details in return for being given the forms, which are free online or in post offices.
More than 81 MPs from across the political spectrum have signed a Commons motion expressing concern that sales reps are allowed on to maternity wards and allowed to "pass on advertising material" and "extract data from … new mothers in order to sell it on to third parties". The motion states that many new mothers believe they are giving their details to an official from the NHS. According to the motion, the NHS receives £2.3m a year in fees and equipment from Bounty for access to maternity wards.
An HMRC spokesman said last year it paid Bounty £85,990 to distribute 857,000 child benefit forms.
A spokeswoman from Bounty said the club's goal with HMRC was to make the child benefit form convenient for new parents to access and to provide value for money for HMRC and taxpayers. "Distributing the form through Bounty packs costs 8p per form. If HMRC posted the forms individually the cost would rise to above 33p per form," she said.
"The provision of the child benefit form in our free packs ensures that the forms are put directly into the hands of parents and enables them to claim their child benefit as soon as their child is born. Our distribution of the forms means new parents do not have the burden of travelling to the post office, as was previously the case, or having to print off a form from the internet themselves." She said Bounty reps followed a strict code of conduct under which they were required to make it clear to parents that there was no requirement to give their personal details in return for a child benefit form.
An HMRC spokesman said Bounty "provided the government with an opportunity to get the latest child benefit claim forms directly to new mothers, both quickly and cost-effectively", although the spokesman added that it was not the only way to obtain the form. He said the government was monitoring "the effectiveness of using Bounty, to ensure it delivers value for money and provides the best service to our customers".
Critics are calling for child benefit claim forms to be given out when a birth is registered rather than through Bounty reps.
Vicky Garner, who started the petition calling for the HMRC to end its contract with Bounty, said "an alarming number of new parents felt harassed and pestered by them. Even worse, some are reporting being misled and disrespected at a time when they are at their most vulnerable."
One of the campaign's supporters, Amanda Stevens, described how hours after giving birth to her baby son in Manchester three years ago, she was asked for her details by a Bounty rep. "I thought she must be a member of hospital staff and assumed I was being asked for information for official purposes. It was only when she handed me a pack and left that I realised," she said. "The thing that really riled me was that this woman took my data without telling me where she was from."
In May, NHS officials were criticised for allowing salespeople access to mothers shortly after they have given birth.
Dr Margaret McCartney, a Glasgow GP, questioned whether it was desirable for representatives from a promotions company to be allowed on NHS wards.
In an editorial published by bmj.com, McCartney wrote that Bounty profited by selling parents' details. She said the hours after birth were "hardly an optimal time" to obtain consent for giving out data.
