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 potential impact of not extending Start for Life funding to all councils delivering Best Start Family Hubs on (i) the developmental domains assessed in the Early Years Foundation Stage profile and (ii) the government’s commitment to shift from treatment to prevention.

We are committed to delivering the 10-Year Health Plan ambition to match Healthy Babies, formerly Start for Life, to Best Start Family Hubs over the next decade.

There is strong evidence that the 1,001 days from pregnancy to the age of two years old set the foundations for our cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Supporting babies and their families in this period provides an opportunity to improve health and education outcomes and reduce inequalities, including on Early Years Foundation Stage domains.

We have already started to deliver the shift from treatment to prevention by providing funding to 75 areas to deliver universal, prevention-focussed Healthy Babies services. From April, the Government is rolling out Best Start Family Hubs to all local authorities, backed by over £500 million to reach up to half a million more children and families. This funding will help embed hubs within a wider support system, including integrated child health services, and will enable proactive identification and support for health issues and early developmental delays.