Rollout of the Best Start for Life
The rollout of the Best Start for Life for every baby is now underway!
Providing the right support to parents and carers during the 1001 critical days will help to ensure every baby can get the best start in life. Rapid progress has been made since the publication of the Vision in March 2021.
Early years support is being transformed, with a start for life offer providing information on how families can access services, where and when they need them. They will be able to access joined-up universal services - mental health, breastfeeding and parenting support, midwifery, health visiting, safeguarding and SEND through their local family hub network, physically and in the local community.
75 local authority areas in England, 14 of them ‘trailblazers’, will receive funding to rollout the Start for Life programme. Local authorities will be setting up Parent and Carer Panels so they can hear directly from families on how to continuously improve support.
The government is committed to prioritising the early years - with £500 million of support for families, including over £300 million for the Family Hubs and the Start for Life programme announced as part of the 2021 Spending Review.
I am delighted to continue in my role as the government’s early years advisor until the end of this Parliament, and I look forward to working with the government to promote a better future for every baby. We will also begin the rollout of a digital vision of the Red Book to give every family access to information about their baby and online help and guidance when they need it.
It is clear from the excellent work of the Royal Foundation that there is a growing national conversation on the vital importance of giving every baby the best start for life. As adults, we must all recognise that the very future of our world depends on the happiness and wellbeing of the next generation, and we must do everything in our power to support families as the foundation of a successful society.
You can read the progress update here and watch and read some of the media coverage below.
With the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty at the St Austell Family Hub.
Daily Express: 'Having a baby can be traumatic': First 75 family hubs opening in £500million plan
Nursery World: Fourteen areas named as 'Trailblazer' Family Hubs
Children & Young People Now: Andrea Leadsom reveals local authorities granted share of £300m funding