Best Start Family Hubs

Lord Mohammed of Tinsley Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I recognise the noble Lord’s real commitment in this area and his work over the years. I stress that there are good examples of hubs providing support for families with teenagers, such as in Coventry, where over 400 young people were brought together with 65 partner organisations to facilitate access to services. We are talking about transformation. We are not talking about the older models; we are moving forward. I agree with the noble Lord that evidence of outcomes is important, although that takes time to come through, as the recent IFS report has shown. We are committed to evaluating the programme fully and are procuring for that now.

[Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the family hubs, particularly the support for young people aged five to 19, or up to 25 with special educational needs. One of the issues we always have around these initiatives is the consistency of delivery and what is often referred to as a postcode lottery. Can the Minister assure us that we will get consistency of delivery, so that every young person, no matter where they live in the country, gets the support they need?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an important point. That is why the programme is committed to initially providing a hub within every local authority, expanding over the next two years to 1,000 hubs opening, recognising the diversity of need and that local areas will want to move the programme forward. There is clear guidance and there are clear expectations that every area will report on the outcomes they achieve, making sure that we drive forward the real desire for consistency that the noble Lord outlines.