The first 1000 days of life, from conception to age two, are widely recognised as a critical period for child development, shaping long-term health, well-being, and life outcomes.The previous Committee examined this period in its 2019 First 1000 days of life inquiryconsidering national strategy, current spending and barriers to investment and local provision. Since then, …
| Title | HC No. | Published | Items | Response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th Report - First 1000 days: a renewed focus | HC 802 | 22 Jan 2026 | 26 | Overdue |
We welcome the additional funding that the Government has announced for Family Hubs and its plans to open a Hub in every local authority. This is a positive step in increasing the support available to families during the critical first years of a child’s life. However, the funding available for …
We call on the Government to set out plans to further expand the network of Family Hubs to provide access to a Hub every community. This plan must be supported by sustained and ringfenced funding. Previous research on the benefits of the Sure Start Programme clearly set out the long-term …
Successive governments have rightly focused on targeting Family Hubs and other early year interventions on those with the greatest need. We welcome the announcement that Hubs will have staff specifically trained to support the parents of children with additional needs navigate the service. We recommend that Government consider creating similar …
Perinatal mental health is as important as physical health, with poor mental health outcomes having potentially significant long-term consequences for both the mother and child. We were struck by how frequently mental health concerns were raised in evidence. Given that the Government’s 54 new investment is available only to the …
The Government should set out what actions it will take to improve access to perinatal mental health care within Family Hubs, supported by specific targets to improve access for women from ethnic minority backgrounds who have disproportionately poorer mental health outcomes. (Recommendation, Paragraph 33)
We recommend that the Department for Education revise its guidance on early language and home learning environment funding to allow it to be used to provide support that covers the 0–2-year period, to allow providers the maximum flexibility in how they deploy this funding. (Recommendation, Paragraph 39)
We welcome the Government’s intention for Neighbourhood Health Services and Neighbourhood Health Centres to work in partnership with Family Hubs. Given that both models aim to bring together health and broader support services in a “one stop shop”, it will be important that families know where to go to access …
The Government will fail to deliver on its ambition to give every child the best start in life unless it takes urgent action to rebuild the health visitor workforce, which has been decimated over the last 10 years. (Conclusion, Paragraph 55)
The Government must create a specific plan to rebuild the health visitor workforce in its forthcoming NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. This plan must be informed by safe staffing tools to ensure that health visitors have a manageable workload. As an initial step, we call on the Government to immediately …
We are also highly concerned about the variation in performance amongst local authorities in delivering health visits. While it is clear that the system as a whole needs additional resourcing, it is unacceptable that some local authorities managed 100% uptake while others were as low as 4%. We call 55 …
The Government’s ambitions for the number of health visits are woefully inadequate. Children in England receive fewer mandated health visits than children in any other part of the UK. While the Government’s immediate priority must be supporting and growing the workforce to deliver the current programme of five visits, in …
We recommend that the Government commit to increasing the number of mandatory health visitor contacts for children in England from five to six. To help it deliver this it should look at the approach that the devolved administrations have taken, where families can expect between 6 and 11 contacts with …
Throughout this inquiry we heard that the children’s health workforce is being stretched to breaking point. There are significant shortages across multiple disciplines which prevent professionals from delivering the care young children and their families need and that, in some cases, significantly impacts on patient safety (Conclusion, Paragraph 76)
The Government must take the opportunity presented by the forthcoming NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a sustainable and well-resourced children’s health workforce. While we understand the Government’s desire for the workforce plan to go beyond numbers, a plan that does not set out a clear, achievable and funded …
Many professions which play a key role in delivering children’s health care are not entirely or primarily employed by the NHS. We recommend the Government sets out how it plans to support those professions in non- NHS settings, particularly allied health professionals and early years practitioners, in a child’s health …
The continuing decline in childhood vaccination levels since 2012 is a national disgrace; children should not be dying of entirely preventable diseases. The continued failure to effectively grapple with this is a significant and ongoing public health crisis and will lead to increased costs for the health service in the …
We are disappointed that the Government has dropped the 95% vaccination coverage target from NHS planning guidance and were unconvinced by the Minister’s arguments that it remained an “expectation” despite its removal. While we agree with the Government’s desire for the NHS to have a smaller number of priorities, we …
We recommend that the Government immediately reinstate the 95% vaccination coverage target in NHS planning guidance for all vaccinations, including those given during the first 1000 days to mothers and children. We also call on the Government to commit to hitting this target no later than the end of this …
Despite the measures contained in the Government’s vaccination strategy, vaccination rates are continuing to fall and the strategy is failing to deliver the improved coverage that is so desperately needed. The Government should brand the currently strategy a failure and develop a new plan with a specific focus on improving …
The plan for delivering vaccination by health visitors has real potential to help the Government achieve the 95% coverage vaccine target. We recommend the Government explore ways to accelerate the pilot programme and to report back on its findings within 6 months. (Recommendation, Paragraph 101) 57 Integration between services
The introduction of a Single Unique Identifier has the potential to significantly simplify data sharing across the early years landscape and we hope that currently planned pilots proceed smoothly and at pace. We ask that the Government commit to providing regular update on the progress of the pilots. (Conclusion, Paragraph …
The Government does not have access the data it needs on children’s health outcomes during the first 1000 days. Without this data it will struggle to deliver meaningful improvements or implement a shared outcomes framework. (Conclusion, Paragraph 116)
We recommend that the Government work with all NHS and early-years settings to produce plans for greater disaggregated data concerning service delivery and outcomes for children. This should include data broken down by age group, as well as ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status, access to services, and other categories that will …
Throughout this inquiry we heard that concerns about the legislation around data sharing was acting as a barrier to partners working effectively together. While some local areas have developed their own systems to support effective data sharing, stakeholders were clear they needed greater central support. (Conclusion, Paragraph 123)
We recommend that the Department of Health and Social Care work with Integrated Care Systems to simplify data sharing guidance to improve data sharing between providers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 124)
The absence of a shared outcomes framework undermines accountability and hinders strategic planning across local systems. We welcome the Government’s plans to produce a shared outcomes framework. We recommend that the final framework be supported by an implementation plan that sets out how the Government will use the introduction of …
| Date | Witnesses | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Sep 2025 | Ashley Dalton MP · Department of Health and Social Care, Liz Ketch · Department of Health and Social Care, Susie Owen · Department for Education | View ↗ |
| 2 Jul 2025 | Anna Bird · Disabled Children's Partnership, Dr Amit Aggarwal · Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, Dr Claire Fuller · NHS England, Dr Doug Simkiss · Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Dr Helen Skirrow · Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, Dr Helen Stewart · The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Dr Sally Payne · Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Jane Harris · Speech and Language UK, Janet Cooper · Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists | View ↗ |
| 4 Jun 2025 | Alison Morton · Institute of Health Visiting, Dr Christine Farquharson · Institute for Fiscal Studies, Rachel Roberts · Hull City Council, Rukshana Kapasi · Barnardos | View ↗ |
| 7 May 2025 | Professor Sir Michael Marmot · University College London (UCL), Rt Hon Dame Andrea Leadsom DBE · Early Years Healthy Development Review | View ↗ |
| Date | Direction | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Apr 2026 | — | Correspondence from Minister Hodgson - First 1000 Days Response |
| 15 Oct 2025 | — | Correspondence from Minister Dalton re First 1000 days evidence session |
| 2 Jul 2025 | — | Correspondence from Minister Daby re the First 1000 Days |