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 face-to-face health visits for new parents during the covid-19 outbreak; if he will allocate additional resources to increase the number of health visitors; and if he will provide additional support to new parents during the covid-19 outbreak.

Health visitors have continued to provide support throughout the pandemic through a blended approach consisting of face-to-face and virtual visits, making a professional judgement on what sort of appointment is best for each family. Local authorities are best placed to make decisions on workforce based on local need. New parents are offered five universal health and wellbeing reviews during the first two and a half years of a child’s life where health visitors provide tailored support and can signpost parents to additional services as required.