13th Report - First 1000 days of life

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government's response sets out ongoing and planned work on the first 1000 days, agreeing on the value of early investment and local partnership while stating it has "no plans" for an additional mandated health visit.

• It agrees on the importance of local partners working together and says it wants "clear focus on children throughout their development", while stating that local leaders are best placed to commission services and that it does "not" expect local areas to do this alone.
• On the Healthy Child Programme, it states it "has no plans to introduce an additional mandated contact" at 3-3.5 years, giving as its reason that an increased focus on universal visits "may lead to a reduced focus" on families needing additional help.
• It is working with Public Health England on modernising the Healthy Child Programme, with an initial focus on the first 1000 days and early years, and says the FNP National Unit function will transfer to Public Health England in April 2020.
• On funding and cross-government leadership, it says all long-term spending decisions "are for the Spending Review". The Early Years Family Support Ministerial Group "will consider carefully" the Committee's report and "plans to make recommendations to Secretaries of State shortly".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error