Early Years Healthy Development Review End of Year Update
What a 12 months it has been for the early years!
The release of the Vision for the 1001 Critical Days, the report of the Early Years Healthy Development Review on the 25th March with the Prime Minister was a landmark day for all those who are determined that every baby gets the best start for life.
As Chairman of the Review, I have continued to work hard with my parliamentary team and the Start for Life unit to implement the 6 Action Areas of the report.
One of the highlights was the announcement of £500 million to transform the support available for new families and babies in October’s Spending Review.
Funding will include:
£82 million for Family Hubs. This funding will provide transformation money for 75 selected upper-tier local authorities to create or develop their Family Hub network, including helping local authorities to upgrade existing premises and facilities.
£50 million for Parenting Programmes. This funding will ensure parenting programmes are available in those local authorities, alongside additional targeted support to families most in need.
£10 million for the Start for Life offer. Local authorities will receive funding to bring together their joined up Start for Life offer, ensuring that parents and carers understand what services they can access and where they can access them. Parents and carers themselves will be involved in designing the services they need.
£50 million for breastfeeding support. Local authorities will receive funding for a comprehensive offer of advice and support around breastfeeding. The options will be tailored to local context but will include services such as specialist antenatal breastfeeding classes, tongue-tie services, additional breastfeeding peer supporters on postnatal wards and home visits from lactation specialists. This will ensure support is available face to face, over the phone and digitally, including at antisocial hours, and that it will reach families where they are.
£100 million for infant and perinatal mental health. Local authorities will receive funding for bespoke parent infant mental health support.
£10 million for workforce pilots. In a small number of local authorities this funding will be used to develop ideas around a modern, mixed skilled workforce. It will bring together teams with a range of skills to support families under the clinical leadership of health visitors. With the right training and supervision structures in place, health visitors will be able to draw on this additional resource within their teams to improve support for families.
£200 million uplift for the Supporting Families programme, bringing total investment in the programme over the next 3 years to nearly £700 million.
This significant financial package will be transformational for the early years – it will enable many more parents and carers to have access to the support and services that they need.
This investment in the early years will improve access to services and support for parents and carers in England, and I believe it is fundamental to the Prime Minister’s levelling up agenda. Just as we need to level up economic opportunity across the country, we must also focus on where it all begins, that critical period of human life from conception to the age of two.
What’s next?
We continue to gather evidence from local authorities and the charitable and voluntary sector, and in the new year, will be undertaking a series of virtual visits and roundtables with parents, volunteers and other stakeholders to help inform and shape the continued work of the Review.
We will also be formalising the process for local authorities to apply for the funding announced in the Spending Review to bring together their joined up Start for Life offer.
And I’m excited to be working on Series 2 of my 1001 Critical Days podcast, with a whole host of guests! You can catch up with previous episodes here – and don’t forget to subscribe.
I will continue to provide updates on our work on my website and on my social media channels. If you have a specific question or would like further information then please email me on andrea.leadsom.mp@parliament.uk. Together we can ensure that every baby gets the best start for life.
