Asked by: David Burton-Sampson (Labour - Southend West and Leigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the Best Start centre funding allocations for local authorities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life, the chance to achieve and to thrive, are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission. We will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education.
The department will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities can access it. On 13 October, 65 local authorities that had not received Family Hubs programme funding to date were paid a share of the £12 million Development Grant, to fund essential preparatory work ahead of the national Best Start Family Hubs rollout in April 2026.
The department will be providing further guidance, and detail about funding allocations, to local authorities in time to support service delivery from April 2026.