Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to help increase the effectiveness of Sure Start for reducing (a) child hospitalisations and (b) overall child health.

The long-term evaluations of Sure Start show large-scale, holistic interventions can be effective in improving children’s health, reducing hospitalisations, and delivering positive impacts on long-term health and development outcomes.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme builds on lessons learned from Sure Start about the benefits of integrated, multi-agency workforce and place-based support to improve baby and child health outcomes. The programme places health services at the heart of support for families, particularly for babies, from conception to the age of two years old.

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is being extended in 2025/26, with £126 million being made available for families to deliver on the Plan for Change and to give every child the best start in life.