Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Department holds data on the number of (a) health visitors, (b) school nurses and (c) community staff nurses employed (i) by and (ii) on behalf of each local authority.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthy child programme provides a universal public health offer for children and families, with local authorities commissioning programme services, including health visiting and school nursing, alongside the targeted Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme. Funding for these services is provided through the Public Health Grant. Local authorities are required to offer five mandated health and development reviews to all eligible families, from pregnancy to age five, delivered through health visiting services. There are no equivalent mandated review requirements for school nursing or the FNP.
The Department has recently refreshed its guidance for local authorities commissioning healthy child programme services. The new guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a clear vision for more joined-up service delivery, encouraging collaboration between all partners involved in child health with the aim of promoting consistency and raising standards across England. It emphasises a universal offer for all families, plus additional targeted or specialist support provided according to need. The FNP is a targeted offer.
The new guidance also emphasises that continuity of care is fundamental to safe, high-quality support, enabling professionals to build relationships with families and identify emerging needs or risks at the earliest opportunity. It highlights the importance of skilled professional judgement, clinical assessment and relational practice by health visitors, but supports the appropriate use of skill-mix teams to maximise the impact of the clinical workforce. We also published the first workforce dataset for health visiting and school nursing in September 2026, to help the department and local authorities monitor services.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what minimum qualifications his Department expects of staff delivering the mandated health visitor reviews; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of replacing community staff nurses with unregistered practitioners on levels of care.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthy child programme provides a universal public health offer for children and families, with local authorities commissioning programme services, including health visiting and school nursing, alongside the targeted Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme. Funding for these services is provided through the Public Health Grant. Local authorities are required to offer five mandated health and development reviews to all eligible families, from pregnancy to age five, delivered through health visiting services. There are no equivalent mandated review requirements for school nursing or the FNP.
The Department has recently refreshed its guidance for local authorities commissioning healthy child programme services. The new guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a clear vision for more joined-up service delivery, encouraging collaboration between all partners involved in child health with the aim of promoting consistency and raising standards across England. It emphasises a universal offer for all families, plus additional targeted or specialist support provided according to need. The FNP is a targeted offer.
The new guidance also emphasises that continuity of care is fundamental to safe, high-quality support, enabling professionals to build relationships with families and identify emerging needs or risks at the earliest opportunity. It highlights the importance of skilled professional judgement, clinical assessment and relational practice by health visitors, but supports the appropriate use of skill-mix teams to maximise the impact of the clinical workforce. We also published the first workforce dataset for health visiting and school nursing in September 2026, to help the department and local authorities monitor services.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is planning to take to provide support to first-time parents under 25 in areas where the Family Nurse Partnership is no longer commissioned.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthy child programme provides a universal public health offer for children and families, with local authorities commissioning programme services, including health visiting and school nursing, alongside the targeted Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme. Funding for these services is provided through the Public Health Grant. Local authorities are required to offer five mandated health and development reviews to all eligible families, from pregnancy to age five, delivered through health visiting services. There are no equivalent mandated review requirements for school nursing or the FNP.
The Department has recently refreshed its guidance for local authorities commissioning healthy child programme services. The new guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a clear vision for more joined-up service delivery, encouraging collaboration between all partners involved in child health with the aim of promoting consistency and raising standards across England. It emphasises a universal offer for all families, plus additional targeted or specialist support provided according to need. The FNP is a targeted offer.
The new guidance also emphasises that continuity of care is fundamental to safe, high-quality support, enabling professionals to build relationships with families and identify emerging needs or risks at the earliest opportunity. It highlights the importance of skilled professional judgement, clinical assessment and relational practice by health visitors, but supports the appropriate use of skill-mix teams to maximise the impact of the clinical workforce. We also published the first workforce dataset for health visiting and school nursing in September 2026, to help the department and local authorities monitor services.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of digital-first school nursing in identifying (a) safeguarding concerns and (b) unmet health needs.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthy child programme provides a universal public health offer for children and families, with local authorities commissioning programme services, including health visiting and school nursing, alongside the targeted Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme. Funding for these services is provided through the Public Health Grant. Local authorities are required to offer five mandated health and development reviews to all eligible families, from pregnancy to age five, delivered through health visiting services. There are no equivalent mandated review requirements for school nursing or the FNP.
The Department has recently refreshed its guidance for local authorities commissioning healthy child programme services. The new guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a clear vision for more joined-up service delivery, encouraging collaboration between all partners involved in child health with the aim of promoting consistency and raising standards across England. It emphasises a universal offer for all families, plus additional targeted or specialist support provided according to need. The FNP is a targeted offer.
The new guidance also emphasises that continuity of care is fundamental to safe, high-quality support, enabling professionals to build relationships with families and identify emerging needs or risks at the earliest opportunity. It highlights the importance of skilled professional judgement, clinical assessment and relational practice by health visitors, but supports the appropriate use of skill-mix teams to maximise the impact of the clinical workforce. We also published the first workforce dataset for health visiting and school nursing in September 2026, to help the department and local authorities monitor services.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance the Department provides to local authorities on assessing the cumulative impact of concurrent changes to children's public health and family services.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s Public Health Grant guidance states that public health grant funded service commissioning and investment should be informed by robust local data, strategies and professional advice from the Director of Public Health.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what local authority requirements are in providing (a) health visiting, (b) school nursing and (c) the Family Nurse Partnership under the Healthy Child Programme; and how her Department assesses the adequacy of the provision of those services.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The healthy child programme provides a universal public health offer for children and families, with local authorities commissioning programme services, including health visiting and school nursing, alongside the targeted Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) programme. Funding for these services is provided through the Public Health Grant. Local authorities are required to offer five mandated health and development reviews to all eligible families, from pregnancy to age five, delivered through health visiting services. There are no equivalent mandated review requirements for school nursing or the FNP.
The Department has recently refreshed its guidance for local authorities commissioning healthy child programme services. The new guidance, published in February 2026, sets out a clear vision for more joined-up service delivery, encouraging collaboration between all partners involved in child health with the aim of promoting consistency and raising standards across England. It emphasises a universal offer for all families, plus additional targeted or specialist support provided according to need. The FNP is a targeted offer.
The new guidance also emphasises that continuity of care is fundamental to safe, high-quality support, enabling professionals to build relationships with families and identify emerging needs or risks at the earliest opportunity. It highlights the importance of skilled professional judgement, clinical assessment and relational practice by health visitors, but supports the appropriate use of skill-mix teams to maximise the impact of the clinical workforce. We also published the first workforce dataset for health visiting and school nursing in September 2026, to help the department and local authorities monitor services.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to introduce a mandatory duty for online pornography services to comply with the requirements of a third party content audit, to ensure they do not carry any illegal or harmful material.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Independent Pornography Review highlighted the need for greater parity between the treatment of offline and online pornography. Government agrees, and the cross government Joint Team was tasked to develop a delivery plan to set out how it will achieve greater parity. This includes testing the effectiveness of different approaches, with options for audit and reporting functions. Government is considering the full range of options and will revert to Parliament with a delivery plan.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to appoint a formal auditing body for online pornography following the recent pilot conducted by the BBFC.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Independent Pornography Review highlighted the need for greater parity between the treatment of offline and online pornography. Government agrees, and the cross government Joint Team was tasked to develop a delivery plan to set out how it will achieve greater parity. This includes testing the effectiveness of different approaches, with options for audit and reporting functions. Government is considering the full range of options and will revert to Parliament with a delivery plan.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received Suffolk County Council's Best Start Family Hubs plan; and what steps her Department takes when a local authority's plan proposes fewer family hubs than it currently operates.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has received Suffolk County Council’s Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) delivery plan and officials are reviewing the authority’s proposals to ensure they align with the expectations of the programme and support improved outcomes for children and families.
Decisions about the number, location and configuration of family hubs and related services are matters for local authorities, subject to their statutory duties assessment of local need. BSFH funding does not require authorities to maintain a particular number of Family Hubs. Where a local authority proposes changes to existing provision, the department will work with them to ensure that BSFH funding is used to enhance, expand and reshape existing services so that families experience an improved and strengthened offer, rather than maintain existing provision.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reductions in (a) family hubs and (b) health visiting on progress towards the target of children reaching a good level of development by 2028.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is investing over £900 million in Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) and Healthy Babies between 2026 and 2029 to deliver a more connected, prevention-led system that improves outcomes for babies, children and their families. Local authorities are expected to use BSFH funding to enhance, expand and reshape existing services to provide families with an improved and strengthened offer, rather than maintaining existing provision.
This investment supports the government's ambition for 75% of children to reach a good level of development by 2028. Recent Early Years Foundation Stage Profile data shows continued progress towards this ambition.
The department will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the BSFH programme to assess whether it is achieving its intended objectives and improving outcomes for children and families. The evaluation will help strengthen the evidence base on the programme's impact and inform future delivery and policy decisions.
Health visiting provides unique access to families, with the early mandated reviews often delivered in the family home. It enables trained professionals to identify emerging health, developmental and safeguarding needs in children that may otherwise go unnoticed.
In September 2026, the department published the first ever dataset for the children’s public health nursing workforce. This data will be published annually to allow local authorities to monitor delivery and support the government’s commitment to strengthen health visiting.