Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the role of charity providers in the roll out of family hubs.

The voluntary sector will play a vital role in the effective delivery of family hubs.

The National Centre for Family Hubs was launched in May 2021, delivered by the Anna Freud Centre - a leading mental health charity for children and families who have been funded by the department to support the scale up of family hubs across England. The National Centre’s role will be fundamental in ensuring local authorities have the right guidance and resources they need to develop their family hubs.

The "Family Hub Implementation Toolkit" published by the National Centre is clear that through family hubs, statutory services and voluntary and community sector (VCS) partners work together to get families the help they need. The toolkit sets out that representatives from the VCS should be involved in the process of developing the local hub model, and highlights the role that the VCS can play in meeting the needs of the local community. The department has already seen innovative partnerships between local authorities and VCS partners who have moved to a family hub model, and we will work with the National Centre to develop and spread effective practice.