Infants, Parents and Carers Bill

Sharon Hodgson Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 4th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Gateshead South) (Lab)]

It is truly an honour to speak in this important debate. I am happy to follow the excellent speech by the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson).

This is such an important Bill, as we have heard. I thank the right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) for his work on bringing it forward; I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him on it. I also thank the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, which I have had the privilege of working with over many years, for its unwavering support for the Bill and beyond, and for its tireless commitment to ensuring that every single baby has the best possible start in life.

That thanks extends, in particular, to the former Member for South Northamptonshire, Dame Andrea Leadsom. She has been the biggest champion of this issue, whether in this place during her whole time as an MP—I worked with her on it—or from the outside, as now. I also thank the wonderful former Health Minister Will Quince, who is now the chief executive of the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, for his dedication and work on getting the Bill to where it is today. We all know how much work went into these important six clauses, as we heard from the right hon. Gentleman for New Forest West in his opening remarks.

Before I go into why the Bill is so important, it would be useful to contextualise how we got here—some of this we have heard in the other excellent speeches. I was extremely proud when the last Labour Government introduced Sure Start to reduce the impact of child poverty and address social exclusion by improving the life chances of children under five, especially those who grow up in disadvantaged areas. I pay enormous tribute, as others have, to the late, great Baroness Tessa Jowell. She would be so proud of the right hon. Gentleman—who is not actually listening to me at this point. She would be—he is still not listening—so proud of him for choosing this issue for his private Member’s Bill and of all of us for being here to support it. When I became shadow children and families Minister back in 2010, she explained the genesis of Sure Start, how important it was and how we got here. She said, “Sharon, you need to be able to smell the babies—the places need to be full of babies.” Metaphorically, this House is, in all our remarks, full of babies today. I am sure that she would be proud of us.

I also pay huge tribute to Lord Blunkett, as others have, Baroness Margaret Hodge, who also gave me the benefit of all her wisdom and experience, and our current Health Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (Yvette Cooper), as well as the former Member for Nottingham North, the amazing and brilliant Graham Allen, who I had the pleasure of working with on early intervention. I still have copies of his excellent reports, written with the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), and refer to them now; his work goes on in the work that I will continue to do from the Back Benches. I thank him for that. I also thank Naomi Eisenstadt, who has been mentioned. So many played major roles in driving the policy forward after the 1997 election.

[Dame Meg Hillier]

My hon. Friend referred to the former Member for Nottingham North, Graham Allen. He not only had the idea, but implemented it through the Nottingham strategic partnership, which he chaired from 2005. He turned it into something that started pre-pregnancy, in order to tackle the high number of teenage pregnancies. He lived this, and set a real blueprint for what Government can do—I look to the Minister—when they take forward the Bill, which we hope will pass today.

[Mrs Hodgson]

The work on teenage pregnancy was a real blueprint, and the 10-year teenage pregnancy strategy fulfilled its ambition of reducing those numbers, following the great work of Graham Allen. I remember taking part in a Westminster Hall debate acknowledging 10 years of that strategy and its success. As for what the numbers are now, as we have been saying, when anything of that kind stops, there is backsliding, I am afraid. That shows that the job is never done. That is why it is so important that we get the Bill through Parliament and on the statute book.

While the initial roll-out of Sure Start targeted disadvantaged communities exclusively, the approach soon shifted to focus on the universal provision of children’s centres, as we heard in the excellent speech by the Chair of the Education Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). At Sure Start’s peak, almost 3,500 centres were operating across the country. However, in 2010 came the change in government and Tory austerity, as has been discussed; we all know what happened thereafter. Within months, Sure Start funding was slashed, with cuts of up to two thirds, and the ringfence was removed. Hundreds of centres closed so quickly. I was shadow children and families Minister at the time, and our now Prime Minister was shadow Education Secretary. Together, we fought the battle against those cuts day in, day out. I was keeping a tally of closures, and when it got to over 1,000 closures the coalition Government stopped publishing the numbers, which made it so much harder for us to keep track.

[Pam Cox (Colchester) (Lab)]

Shame!

[Mrs Hodgson]

It was; those were dark days. That is why I was so glad and grateful to hear the right hon. Member for New Forest West acknowledge how wrong it was that the coalition Government allowed that to happen. As we know, the former Prime Minister and then Member for Witney’s pre-election promise to protect Sure Start never held true—quite the opposite. Those savage cuts were truly a tragedy for children everywhere. I agree with the then Member for Sheffield Hallam and Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition Government, who said that Sure Start was

“one of the best things the last Government”

had done. It was a shame he was not able to protect it from cuts, even as Deputy Prime Minister. I am sure he tried; I acknowledge that I am sure the Lib Dems did try.

[Amanda Martin]

I thank my hon. Friend for referring to the Labour Government’s initiation of Sure Start. Our Prime Minister, who was shadow Education Secretary, actually kept Sure Start going in Manchester while he was mayor. Even before coming to this place as Prime Minister, he continued to see the value of Sure Start in our early years education.

[Mrs Hodgson]

That is a really good point, which gives us great hope that the Prime Minister will help to rebuild that, and protect what we are discussing, going forward.

[Munira Wilson]

I know that the hon. Lady is passionate and committed to this issue; we have worked together in this place on many issues relating to babies and children. She quoted Nick Clegg, who, of course, was Deputy Prime Minister when the cuts to Sure Start were made. On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, may I say that our former colleagues—none of us were in this place at the time—did fight the Tories every single day? There were some unpalatable choices being made. However, I am sure she will acknowledge that the Liberal Democrats in that Government introduced universal infant free school meals, which I know she strongly supports, and the pupil premium for the most disadvantaged children. I was a school governor in a school with very disadvantaged children, and that transformed the interventions we could make. We also protected school budgets. Will she acknowledge at least that?

[Mrs Hodgson]

I did so in my remarks just before the interventions—I said that I am sure the Lib Dems tried—but we are not here today to rehearse all that, although we are touching on it in a small way. All that is why the Bill is so important, and why it must pass today—to give vital services the statutory protection that they require, so that progress cannot ever be reversed by a future Government through austerity, cuts, neglect or indifference.

The decisions we make as parliamentarians shape the support available to babies, parents and carers during the 1,001 critical days from pregnancy to age two. This is one of the most important periods in human development. This window may be relatively short, but its impact is not small; in fact, it is responsible for the fastest development of a baby’s brain when compared with other stages over the course of our whole life.

I am not very good at clicking my fingers, but I am attempting to do so—I will try my other hand; that’s a bit better—because a million connections happen a second. That is what George Hosking from the WAVE Trust used to say to me. He would click his fingers and say that a million connections happen a second in a baby’s brain in those first 1,001 critical days. I know from my work with George and the WAVE Trust when I was shadow Children and Families Minister that the period from conception to age two is absolutely the age of opportunity. By age two, 80% of a baby’s brain development has happened. That lays the foundations for attachment, learning, health, wellbeing, stress responses and more. It is therefore essential that the most effective support is provided during this vital time.

For babies to thrive, their parents and carers need to be supported. After all, they are directly responsible for the development of their babies during this most critical period of their lives. Their relationship, stress levels, responsive care and more will unequivocally influence the development and growth of their babies. They are therefore the foundation of our society. Evidence shows that parents’ perceptions of their foetuses are associated with the quality of the relationships built after birth. That highlights the key relationship between maternal foetal attachment and later outcomes.

Getting this right matters because when we do not, children suffer. Research shows that 10% to 25% of children experience disorganised attachment with their main caregiver, putting them at greater risk of poor social, emotional and educational outcomes. That is why we need an assessment to understand exactly what parents and carers, current and prospective, need from us as legislators to help them thrive and take advantage of this time, so that they can provide the best possible start in life for their babies. But to do that, parents need the support and emotional capacity to do so.

Carrying the huge responsibility of ensuring the health and wellbeing of another human being so tiny and so vulnerable is an extremely difficult journey to navigate. However, that weight does not come with any training or preparation. Parents are expected to know just by instinct how to fulfil this role, and that is where we have gone wrong. If we want a healthy and happy society, we need our children to be thriving and therefore our parents and carers to be supported from the very start. That is why I have long advocated for age-appropriate child development education, including on attachment theory and how to be a good parent, to be incorporated into the school curriculum. My hon. Friend the Minister for Early Education was here earlier, so I hope that he listens in to the point I am making now.

There need to be lessons in how to form healthy attachments with babies and in the importance of someone speaking to their baby, even while pregnant, and giving them the love and care they need when they are born, consistently and constantly. This is not only an investment in their development; it is vital to ensure well-attached, healthy and happy children who will thrive into adulthood—it really is that important. This is not at all about encouraging young people to become young parents before they are ready. It is about education, in the same way that we accept that age-appropriate sex education is needed so that people are prepared for it if and when that time comes.

I want to be clear that this support is just as necessary during pregnancy as it is when the child has arrived because, as we know, no two pregnancies look the same. Many will know that I have spoken before on the Floor of the House about my heartbreaking experience of baby loss, and I know that I am not alone in that. This is yet another reason why the Bill is so important. Having important support and intervention, especially in instances of grief and trauma, will be a lifeline for so many. Many of us who experience baby loss then go on to try to have another baby, sometimes successfully, so being supported through that trauma, ready for when the next baby comes along, is so important for their attachment and support. This Bill will be key in ensuring that support is not just reserved for crisis but is consistent, proactive and accountable.

The current non-statutory Government guidance, which sets out delivery expectations for Best Start family hubs and healthy babies services, does not go far enough. We need legislative protection so that history can never repeat itself. It would ensure that that support is actually accountable to Parliament, with an annual mandatory report highlighting the services that have been provided and the outcomes that they have achieved. If the provision of support is there but not accountable to anyone, the quality of that support can be variable, as no one is accountable and keeping track of it. It is therefore essential that the needs of infants, parents and carers, and prospective parents and carers, are actively assessed, and that is precisely what the Bill will do.

As a former public health and prevention Minister, I know from first-hand experience that Government interventions on health oftentimes focus on responding afterwards, rather than preventing, and are reactive rather than proactive. I know that the Department is very focused on changing that. If we instead focus on building conditions that allow parents, carers and babies to thrive, we allow children to thrive from the beginning, rather than waiting to intervene when they struggle later down the line.

Babies should not be an afterthought. There is clearly both a moral and an economic case for this, and the cost of doing nothing will always outweigh the cost of preventive action. I would therefore encourage anyone listening to this debate to back our babies and support this Bill. Babies should be apolitical. This should never be about party politics or point scoring. This is about ensuring that investment in our babies is protected and is put on a statutory footing, so that it is not something that any future Government can decide to strip away, but rather a grounding principle of our society. Babies do not have a political voice, nor do their needs change depending on which colour the Government may be. They need consistent support and care, as do their parents, as they are reliant upon us to act for them.

As I hope I have shown in my remarks today, and as we have heard from the right hon. Member for New Forest West and others, the evidence is clear and robust: supporting the healthy development of babies in their first 1,001 days is fundamental to lifelong physical and mental health and happiness. Surely the success of any Government must include a measure of how well the children in our society fare. Since we know that this key period is the ultimate determinant for that, implementing the Bill is not just an opportunity but a responsibility. That is why we said in our manifesto—I am so proud of this—that we would help raise the healthiest generation of children ever. This Bill is an important step in the journey to achieve that aspiration, which is why I was so proud when I was the Minister to secure Government support for this private Member’s Bill, and it was a pleasure to work with the right hon. Gentleman on it.

I do not believe that any Member in this place would disagree with the fundamental principle that investing in our babies and supporting our parents are investments worth making. This therefore should be a uniting issue across the House, and I hope that the Bill receives the absolute and universal support it needs and deserves as it progresses through both Houses. I look forward to serving on the Committee with the right hon. Member for New Forest West, and I look forward to seeing the Bill become the Swayne babies Act very soon.