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 level of access to health visitors for families in Lincolnshire.

Families in England must be offered at least five health visits, led by a qualified health visitor who is a specialist community public health nurse, with additional support arranged based on identified needs. Local, regional and national health visiting service delivery data is published annually on GOV.UK.

According to the 2024-2025 annual data, which is the latest available, a higher percentage of children in Lincolnshire received a six-to-eight-week health visit and a 12-month health visit than the national average. Meanwhile, the number of children in Lincolnshire who received a 2-2½-year health visit was 3% lower than the national average. The percentage of infants in Lincolnshire who received a new birth health visit within 30 days of birth did not significantly differ from the national average. The relevant dataset and statistical commentary is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-data-for-2024-to-2025

In line with the Government’s commitment to strengthening health visiting, in February 2026, we refreshed the guidance for the Healthy Child Programme, which specifies requirements for health visiting services, to promote national consistency in service delivery. We are working closely with regional colleagues to support the implementation of this guidance across the country.