Health and Social Care Committee

Debate between Lisa Cameron and Paul Williams

Thursday 28th February 2019 Westminster Hall

[Dr Williams]

I thank the hon. Member for so eloquently making the case on an issue that we did not look at specifically in the report; we did not look at multiple-child families. However, we made some comments in a more general way.

I will make two points in response. The first is that providing services to families is not enough. The whole environment in which they live, including the poverty that many families find themselves living in, is probably as important as the provision of services. The second point, which we make in the report, is that we should consider the impact on the early years in all policies as a principle—as a “health in all policies” principle—and we should particularly consider the impact of all policies on the developing brain of children. We state that very clearly as a recommendation in our report.

[Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (SNP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Stockton South (Dr Williams) on chairing an absolutely transformative report, and I also congratulate all the other members of the Health and Social Care Committee for their excellent work in putting the report together. All too often, trauma has been excluded from the work that we have done; we as a society have not recognised the importance of trauma in a young child’s life. I think trauma is at the root of many societal issues, as the hon. Gentleman says.

My question is on the work that the hon. Gentleman said had been done to involve fathers. What are the recommendations to involve fathers further, and to make sure that the system does not exclude them? Also, a number of grandparents, particularly paternal grandparents, who come to my surgeries feel excluded, but very much want to be involved in the first years, because those are the transformative years.

[Dr Williams]

I thank the hon. Member for the contribution that she has made to the Health and Social Care Committee, and to our thoughts in developing these ideas. We learned during our inquiry that fathers often feel excluded—systematically excluded. Much of the literature and many of the interventions are targeted at mothers. Culturally, services tend to push fathers a little bit further away, rather than bringing them in.

We recommend that the healthy child programme becomes a healthy family programme, and of course we know that every family is different. Families have different members; in some families, grandparents play a huge role, and in others, a lesser role. Our main recommendation is about a cultural emphasis, or a cultural change, in the healthy child programme, to make it a more holistic family experience.