Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of funding his Department is providing to the (a) Best Start in Life strategy and (b) Best Start Family Hubs.

The Best Start in Life 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 and healthy start to life. Additionally, the strategy commits the Government to:

- strengthening early childhood health services;

- 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.

The Department is working to provide clarity on future funding and spending plans, including preparing for the first multi-year planning round for the National Health Service in years.

The vision for Best Start Family Hubs goes hand in hand with the move to neighbourhood health services set out in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan, and the three radical shifts from hospital to community, from analogue to digital and from sickness to prevention.