Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which services are set to be delivered by the Government’s new Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Best Start Family Hubs programme will fund all local authorities in England to deliver services to support ages 0 to 5, with more funding for parent and home learning environment evidence-based interventions for ages 3 to 4, while retaining support for ages 0 to 19. Funding will improve outreach and introduce a new role to identify children with special educational needs and disabilities. Hubs will involve parents in decision-making, be open to all, and focus on disadvantaged communities. Professionals across local teams will collaborate, and a new digital hub will be created to support all parents. The initiative aims to strengthen early years support and accessibility nationwide.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking within the Best Start Family Hub programme to ensure that the new centres enhance local opportunities to access good quality play.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
From April 2026, Best Start Family Hubs will continue to provide universal and targeted services for families from pregnancy through age five and beyond. These include peer support sessions, stay-and-play activities, parent champions, and community outreach, all of which help build strong relationships, promote early bonding, and support development from birth.
Community-based activities such as stay-and-play sessions and parenting groups are a vital part of this offer, helping to reduce isolation, build parental confidence and promote early learning through play and shared experiences.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for NHS maternity services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England monitor trends in demand for maternity services using a number of different data sources. Demand is primarily driven by the number of women giving birth, as well as the type and complexity of the care that they and their babies need. The number of births in England has been trending downwards for over a decade, with there being 545,149 deliveries in National Health Service hospitals in 2023/24, 19% lower than the peak of 671,255 in 2012/13. While the number of women giving birth has decreased in recent years, an increasing proportion of women are giving birth for the first time, have pre-existing health conditions, or are developing pregnancy-related complications.
The Office for National Statistics predicts that births in England will increase to approximately 590,000 births per year by 2030, based on 2022-based population projections. This, and increases in the average number of admissions and appointments for each woman who gave birth in recent years, could indicate that demand on maternity services is expected to rise.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the labour supply of trained midwives.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made but later this year we will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will outline strategies for improving retention, productivity, training, and reducing attrition, enhancing conditions for all NHS staff.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions has she had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the establishment of Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
The government has published 'Giving every child the Best Start in Life', which outlines our commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service that will bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to embed a focus on (a) antenatal and (b) prenatal support for parents in the delivery of new Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
As set out in the Best Start in Life (BSIL) Strategy, Best Start Family Hubs will bring together professionals from health and education, with a continued focus on the 1001 critical days from conception to age 2.
The BSIL strategy makes it clear that the integration of health services within Best Start Family Hubs is critical to raising the healthiest generation of children ever, and to ensuring that every child has a happy, heathy start to life. Additionally, it commits the government to strengthening health services in early childhood, improving maternity and newborn care, strengthening health visiting services, making it easier to get vaccinated, supporting healthy eating, tackling tooth decay and giving parents and health professionals easier access to child health information.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of co-location of Best Start Family Hubs and local primary schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
The precise location of Best Start Family Hubs will be for local authorities to decide in consultation with their local communities. We will be providing guidance to local authorities on programme design in time to support service delivery from April 2026.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many former Sure Start children’s centres are no longer operated by local authorities and have been transferred into the third sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data on how many former Sure Start children’s centres are operated by the third sector.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to embed parental outreach in designs for new Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
This is a central challenge and we are responding with new outreach funding and targeted test, learn and grow pilots to find what works.
We have already seen early success in areas like Sheffield and Manchester, where we gathered good insight by testing and adapting outreach approaches focused on boosting take-up of support.
Best Start Family Hubs will work with parent panels, voluntary sector partners, and local data to reach underserved groups, including fathers, minority ethnic communities, and young parents.
The department is also investing in a new digital hub, linked with 'My Children' in the NHS App, to make it easier for all families to find trusted advice and book services.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what lessons her Department has learned from the preceding roll out of (a) Sure Start Sure Start Local Programmes and (b) Sure Start Children’s Centres.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
Research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown that access to Sure Start local programmes and Sure Start children’s centres in early life generated widespread, long-lasting benefits, improving children’s health and educational outcomes and reducing the prevalence of identified special education needs and disabilities (SEND). Building on these lessons, we are strengthening the early years system through Best Start Family Hubs to provide essential support for parents, improve health, education, and wellbeing, and offer a single access point for services, including a digital offer, targeted in the places we know will make the most impact.