Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help improve the health of children and young people in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever, as highlighted in the 10-Year Health Plan for England. Delivery will be underpinned by the three shifts, from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention, with children and young people identified as a high-priority cohort for neighbourhood health. NHS England is also developing a Modern Service Framework for Children and Young People to improve care and support integrated pathways across child health services.

A range of national policy initiatives and service improvement programmes are already underway, including work on a smoke free generation, immunisations, health visiting services, mental health services, obesity, oral health, child sexual abuse, and care leavers.

Staffordshire’s local Best Start in Life plan and Best Start Family Hubs are helping to improve the support provided to families in communities, promote maternal and infant health, and strengthen access to high quality, inclusive early years education and childcare. Online resources such as the Family Hubs Home Zone and Family Hubs School Readiness are also available.

In addition, Staffordshire has launched Better Health Staffordshire, a whole systems approach across the local authority, the National Health Service, and the voluntary and community sector to help children achieve a healthy weight. A strengthened, system-wide Infant Mortality Prevention Programme is also underway.