PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life - 7 July 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on this Government’s vital work to change our country for good by giving every child the best start in life.

The focus today is firmly on our youngest children, but the impact will be much more broader. This Government are building a stronger, fairer society, and we will lay the foundations for it in the earliest years of our children’s lives. Because we are determined to tackle the root causes of problems, not just the symptoms, we begin at the start.

The inequalities that stain our country and the ways in which opportunity is heaped on some but hidden from others are disparities that do not suddenly spring up in adulthood. Our babies are born into an unequal world, and the inequality grows with them, right from the very first days when we carry them home from hospital.

Early differences in the support that families can get, in the early education and childcare that parents can access, and in the opportunities that children have to start exploring are all differences—these and many more—that take hold early on. The winds of fortune are already there on the first day of school—a gale at the backs of some; a blizzard in the faces of others. These differences mean that some children arrive in the classroom not yet ready to learn. They mean that while two thirds of children reach a good level of development by age five, a third do not. Half of our children on free school meals miss that important milestone, and this injustice is fuelled by those differences.

A Labour Government will not tolerate our children being failed like this. Within months of taking office, we set out in our plan for change our ambition to get a record share of children to reach a good level of development by the age of five, because it matters so much for those young lives. Our plan goes further—it sets the tone. Forty per cent of the disadvantage gap at the age of 16 is already there at the age of five.

Next month, we know that young people across the country will pick up their exam results. Some will do well, but sadly some others will be disappointed, and those results-day stories of smiles and frowns for our young people begin to be written in the first years of their lives, so if we want to build an education system where every child can achieve and thrive, if we want to grow a society where the opportunity to get on is open to all, and if we want to deliver the change that the country so desperately needs, we have to focus on the early years. We have to give every child the best start in life. That is where my priority as Education Secretary lies, and that is why, just 12 months after entering government, I am proud to be here today to set out our “best start in life” strategy, which we are determined will change the country for good.

Giving every child the best start in life begins with families. Becoming a parent or a carer is full of joy and wonder, but we all know that it can sometimes be hard—and it can feel isolating, too—so parents and carers need to know that they can tap into a community of support. They need to know that they are not alone, but we are falling short. One in four families with children under five struggle to get trusted advice; for families on low incomes, it is one in three.

It was not always like that. There was a time when Government cared deeply about children’s development. Members across the House will know all about Sure Start, the quiet revolution in the lives of our children carried out by the last Labour Government. Sure Start was one of the proudest achievements of that Labour Government, and I am proud today to build on its legacy. We remember all the good it did for our children, for our communities and for our country. Sure Start raised exam results and reduced hospitalisations. It improved early identification, boosted physical health and boosted mental health. It reached disadvantaged families and made a difference to their lives.

Sure Start was a triumph. Of course, it was not perfect —no programme ever is—but it worked in so many ways and for so many families, and never more so that when it stuck to its principles and brought together the excellent services that parents need. At the heart of its success were the children’s centres: one-stop shops where families knew where they could go for help; a comforting and consistent offer of support all in one place. There are many ways in which 14 years of Conservative Government damaged our country and our society, but the vandalism they inflicted on the lives of our youngest children—tearing these services out of communities, deepening inequalities and abandoning families—should never be forgotten. Today, the Government will right that terrible wrong and restore hope to families.

Our Best Start service will honour the proud legacy of Sure Start. Today’s Labour Government stand on the shoulders of those who went before, but we do so to look forward to the better future our children deserve, not back to the past. That is how we will deliver for a new generation of families.

We will introduce a new Best Start family service delivered through Best Start family hubs: the first step to a national family service that ensures that families can get the right support for their children from conception to age five, giving parents the freedom to focus on loving their children. This morning, we announced the national year of reading for 2026. We want to give parents more time to read with their children, to grow a love of learning that starts in the home and flows throughout a child’s life.

Best Start family hubs will be open to all, rooted in disadvantaged communities. They will work with nurseries, childminders, schools, health services, libraries and local voluntary groups—a whole community coming together around one goal: to give children the best possible start in life. Our Best Start digital service means that we are ready for the future, linking families to their local Best Start family hubs and exploring how the power of artificial intelligence can help parents find the right information.

We will also make early education and care more affordable and easier to access. From the day the Government won the backing of the people, we set about delivering the entitlement of 30 hours of Government-funded childcare a week for working families, backed by funding reaching £9 billion from next year. Last July, we inherited a pledge without a plan, but the Government are delivering on our promise to parents, because I know how much it matters that promises made are promises kept to the future of our country and to the trust between families and their Government. The cost of childcare will no longer price parents out of the jobs they love; instead, they will have the choice and freedom to work the hours they want and an average of £7,500 a year back in their pockets.

I thank all those who are working with us to drive that change, from private nurseries to school-based ones, group-based providers, childminders, dedicated professionals, and early years educators who are transforming life chances. Almost £370 million was provided by the Chancellor in the spending review, and we are building and expanding more nurseries in primary schools, with the first of the 6,000 extra places coming from September this year. Soon enough, 80% of childcare in this country will be Government-backed.

The message is clear: this Labour Government are on the side of families. The Labour party is the party of family. That means that childcare must be better linked to educational priorities, better geared to closing attainment gaps, and better focused on all our children succeeding at school. Our early years educators are too often the hidden heroes of our communities. It is past time that we backed them, so we will raise the status of our workforce. There will be a new professional register, because working in early years is just that: a profession. There will be more high-quality training for staff, guided by the golden thread of the best evidence, and we will train more early years teachers, because we know the difference that they make to our young ones.

Our stronger practice hubs will double in number, and we will offer new financial incentives to attract and keep great early years teachers in the nurseries that serve the most disadvantaged communities. Every child deserves a great education and a great start in life, and that must extend to our children with special educational needs and disabilities. Early intervention can work wonders to lower barriers to learning, so under this Government, inclusive practice will become standard practice.

This Government are driving a decade of national renewal, but there can be no decade of renewal for our country without a decade of renewal for our children. This is urgent, because children only get one chance. If opportunities are missed, parents do not get what they need. If that great nursery down the road has not been built yet, that is it—there is no going back. For 14 years, children’s lives marched on as services were ripped away. I will not stand by and watch as more and more children are let down. Through this strategy, I am bringing change—change for all our families, all our communities, and above all, our children. It is for them that our strategy was written, and it is for them that we will see it through, so that we give each and every child, from their first day in this world, the best start in life. I commend this statement to the House.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

When the right hon. Lady was in opposition, she criticised every announcement simply because it came from the Conservatives. Take childcare: she called the hours model that she talked about today “broken”. She said that she would have a new childcare system, and that its creation would be

“like the creation of the NHS.”

Yet now, in government, she trumpets the childcare system that the Conservatives designed as one of her main achievements.

The right hon. Lady once dismissed family hubs as a “poor imitation”, but after last week’s chaos, what is she turning to for the Government’s reset? Yes, the Conservatives’ family hubs plans. That is why I was surprised this weekend to hear her claims that this could only happen under Labour. The irony is that this programme was started under the Conservatives—we did not hear that today—and the expansion was not in the Labour manifesto; it was in the Conservative one. Her strategy document, published today, has even lifted the name of our “Best Start for Life” plan, published in 2021. Imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, for which I thank the right hon. Lady. Perhaps recent events have reminded her that Labour does not have a monopoly on good ideas—if indeed it has any good ideas at all.

I will not take the right hon. Lady’s approach, which was opposition for opposition’s sake. I agree in principle with much of what is being proposed today, but as with free school meals and the children’s care cap, I will do my job and point out the gaps, raise concerns and expect proper answers. She might consider engaging with the questions this time, instead of falling back on a rant about the Conservatives, which frankly convinces no one and improves nothing.

With that in mind, is this genuinely new money being announced today, or just a reannouncement of the family hubs money from the spending review? The right hon. Lady talks about £500 million of funding. Which financial years, and how many years, does that cover? Is the funding for new hubs only, or will it support existing ones, too? Will there be new capital funding for bricks and mortar provision? As the Secretary of State acknowledged, Sure Start had its limitations. It failed to effectively target support at those who needed it most. What is being done differently this time to avoid the same mistakes being made?

When I visited a family hub in Dartford earlier this year, I was shocked to hear how many mothers were being referred to it because they faced domestic violence from their own children. These are children who have grown up witnessing abuse at home. What data is being collected through these hubs to track national tends like these, and how is that informing the Government’s response to the most pressing issues facing these families?

I welcome the Government’s focus on school readiness. Children who lived through lockdown are arriving at school with speech delays and gaps in basic skills. This is one of covid’s longest shadows, but if we are serious about tackling it, we need to be honest about responsibility: what falls to parents and what falls to teachers? Teachers are stepping in where parents are not. They do it because they care, but it is not their job to potty-train, to brush teeth or to teach children to get dressed. Of course, children with SEND need tailored support—that is a different conversation entirely—but for most children, that support needs to start at home. The Government have set a target for school readiness, but it relates to the end of the school reception year. We need a target that actually reflects school readiness and what has happened at home, not the brilliant work of reception teachers.

The right hon. Lady has said that her No. 1 priority was early years, but the rhetoric does not match the reality. Nurseries across the country are on the brink because of decisions her Government have made. While it is welcome that they have continued the roll-out of our early years offer, the lack of compensation for the national insurance contributions increase is forcing providers to either hike fees or shut their doors. It is no use giving out incentive payments for jobs at nurseries if providers are closing because they have been clobbered by NICs.

Finally, I must raise the issue of SEND. This has been splashed across three national newspapers, and despite the off-the-record briefings from her Department, the right hon. Lady has failed to give parents any reassurance over the weekend. Parental anxiety is, as we all know, going through the roof, so I will give her one more opportunity. Can she confirm that no parent or child will have their right to support reduced, replaced or removed as a result of her planned changes? Right now, this is a Government devoid of ideas. A year in, they are defined by broken promises and U-turns. Parents need and deserve answers on what their Government are doing, and until they get them, they have every reason to doubt everything this Government have to say.

Every time I come here to announce the positive changes that a Labour Government are bringing, whether it is free breakfast clubs, school-based nurseries or our “best start in life” strategy, what is the right hon. Lady’s response? The same confected outrage, the same negativity, and the same petty point scoring. She has no plan or vision for the future of our education system, and for giving our children the best start in life, which they deserve. The Conservatives can talk all they want, after 14 years in government, about what they put in an unsuccessful manifesto, but it came with a post-dated cheque if ever there was one. The British people rightly judge their politicians not on what they claim they will do, but on what they actually deliver, and it is on that basis that this Government will be judged.

The right hon. Lady asked a number of detailed questions about what we are delivering. We are trebling investment in Best Start family hubs across the spending review period. All the detail is there for her to see in the many documents that have been published with the spending review, and in the strategy that we published today. This is additional investment that we are putting into supporting our youngest children, because this Labour Government prioritise the early years and want to make sure that all our children get the best start in life. The only policy that the right hon. Lady has is to cut budgets in state schools and hand a tax break to private schools. That is it. [Interruption.]

Order. I certainly want to listen to what the Secretary of State for Education has to say.

The right hon. Lady asks about the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities. I would say to all parents of children with SEND that there is no responsibility I take more seriously than our responsibility to some of the most vulnerable children in our country. We will ensure as a Government that children get better access to more and strengthened support with a much sharper focus on early intervention. We are investing more in support for children with SEND; there is the extra £1 billion at the Budget, £740 million for more places, and better training and support for staff working with children with SEND.

No group suffered more under the last Government than children with SEND. A degree of humility on the right hon. Lady’s part is well overdue. This is a serious and complex area that the Government are determined to get right. The Conservatives ducked the difficult decisions and failed to put in place the support needed, to the extent that the previous Education Secretary described the system as “lose, lose, lose”.

This Government will ensure that all our children get the best start in life, including children with SEND. Through the schools White Paper, which will come out later this year, we will ensure that all our children, including those with SEND, get better outcomes. We will step up and deliver the change that our children need, and will ensure through our “best start in life” strategy that families once again get early support, timely intervention, access to healthcare, and the chance to speak with other parents about the challenges and joys of parenting. I am so proud that in the first year of the Labour Government, we are delivering more than the Conservatives achieved in 14 years.

I call the Chair of the Select Committee.

I warmly welcome the statement from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on restoring a comprehensive and strategic approach to early years support, childcare and early education—an approach that has sadly been lacking during the 14 years of the last Government. In that time, we saw Sure Start dismantled, the cost of childcare soar, and the absence of any focus at all on quality or addressing the disadvantage gap.

I welcome the commitment that there will be a SEND co-ordinator in every Best Start family hub. Given the shortage of SENDCOs in schools, what are the Secretary of State’s plans for the training and recruitment of this workforce, and what qualification will they have? How is she working with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care on the wider challenges in the workforce for educational psychologists and speech and language therapists?

I welcome the approach to inclusion in early years. My right hon. Friend will know that there are huge differences in the approaches to inclusion taken by different providers. How will individual settings be held to account on inclusivity under this strategy?

Finally, my right hon. Friend will know that there is huge expertise and quality in our maintained nursery schools across the country, but many are struggling with significant financial deficits. What role does she envisage for maintained nursery schools in this new strategy, and how will they be helped to be sustainable?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Chair of the Select Committee for her detailed questions, and for the welcome she has given the strategy. I would be more than happy to discuss all the areas with her in more detail, because I appreciate that time is often short here, Madam Deputy Speaker.

We want to ensure high-quality training and support for all staff working across our education system, but my hon. Friend is right that we will have a SEND trained professional in every Best Start family hub, because the evidence from Sure Start was clear about the importance of early identification of need, aligned with better parenting support and wider health service access, so we will deliver that.

Maintained nurseries have an incredible role to play, given the expertise that they can share across the system, and we are considering further steps to support them in sharing and building on that expertise. As my hon. Friend will know, maintained nurseries often have a large number of children with SEND in their settings, and we think there is a lot we can do around inclusion there, too. On inclusion across the board, there is an important role for the revised Ofsted framework in ensuring that all schools and education settings are genuinely inclusive.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Every child deserves to have the very best start in life possible, so I welcome any measures to tackle inequality and improve support for the early years and for families. I therefore welcome today’s announcements both on the hubs and around the early years workforce and helping to raise the professional status of those who work with children in the early years. That is something that Liberal Democrats have long been calling for, given the level of responsibility and expertise required in that profession.

With the hubs, as we have heard there is a great opportunity to identify special needs early and provide contact time with mental health practitioners and important advice for parents. However, these changes need to go hand in hand with addressing some of the deep problems facing charitable and private early years providers, and I hope the Government will start by reversing the national insurance hike for early years and nursery settings together with reviewing the rates they pay to providers to ensure that they actually cover the costs of delivering high-quality care and early years education, because we know that many nurseries across the country are struggling.

While I have the Secretary of State’s attention on early years, may I raise with her the tragic cases of Gigi Meehan in Cheadle and the children at the Twickenham Green nursery in my constituency, who were completely failed by their early years providers at the hands of extremely cruel, vicious, uncaring staff? The verdicts in both of those cases have been utterly shocking. I know the Minister sitting next to the Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), met my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) last week, and although the Secretary of State’s announcement did not include it, I have read in some news reports that the Government will be increasing Ofsted inspections for nurseries, something that Gigi’s parents, my hon. Friend and I are pressing for. However, over and above that, we do need to see a strengthening of the early years framework to include the use of CCTV.

May I, Madam Deputy Speaker, say one final sentence and press the Secretary of State once again to put the parents and carers of children with special needs across the country out of their misery—

Order.

And rule out scrapping EHCPs—

Order. I call the Secretary of State.

The hon. Lady asks a number of questions and I am grateful for her broad welcome for the intent of this Government to make sure that all of our children get the best start in life. On early years, she will know that as of next year we are investing £9 billion into the system along with a near-doubling of the early years pupil premium. That goes hand in hand with the £75 million expansion grant to support the sector ahead of the September further expansion. In addition, we are working across Government, as the strategy sets out, on how we might consider simplification of funding and how we can make sure it is working as intended for both providers and for parents. I would of course be happy to discuss further issues on that with the hon. Lady. As she said, the Minister for early years education, my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), met Genevieve’s family and the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) last week.

To answer directly the question on Ofsted, from next April Ofsted will inspect new early years providers within 18 months of opening and will move towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared with six years currently, alongside there being additional investment to strengthen quality assurance and inspector training to make sure that all children are safe, loved and protected. I also join with the hon. Lady in sending my condolences to the families affected.

I welcome the revival of a ’90s favourite, not just Oasis at the weekend, but Sure Start-style family services to support half a million more children. Can the Secretary of State confirm that some might say we no longer need to look back in anger and that these hubs will be staffed with SEND professionals to identify needs early, work with families and give vital access to speech, language, emotional and neurodiversity services?

It is hard to top my hon. Friend’s question and I will not begin to try to make further ’90s references. What I can say to her is that we are drawing on the best of Sure Start, learning from the evidence about what was incredibly effective. One other element I would add to her list is that Sure Start was at its best when it worked with families to understand what was most important to them—when services were co-designed with families, and when families and parents had real input into the nature of those services. I remember one development in my own community that only came about because of the role of parents: many dads told us that they wanted Saturday morning clubs so they could be involved in those services. That is the kind of change that we only get through listening to and working with parents.

My hon. Friend is right that we will make sure better SEND support is delivered through the Best Start family hubs. We will also make sure that support for children around speech and language happens much more quickly than is currently the case, and that goes hand in hand with the Nuffield early language intervention that we are rolling out across primary schools.

Will the Secretary of State agree to write to me, as a matter of urgency, regarding the frankly bizarre decision by the Government to twice turn down funding for a new heating system for Meadowgate academy, a special educational needs academy, rated outstanding, that provides places to 182 pupils, which is at risk of having to close as a result of that decision? It is bizarre to announce special educational needs co-ordinators, while both delaying the new 210-place new special educational needs school that was to be provided to Fenland and risking the closure of the existing outstanding school, because the Government are refusing to fund a new heating system.

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising important constituency matters. I will be happy to look into the details. If he could share some more information with me after this session, I will ensure he gets a full response.

I warmly welcome today’s announcement. Sure Start was one of the greatest achievements of the last Labour Government, and these Best Start family hubs will build on that. As a member of the Education Committee, we have heard evidence that Sure Start was at its best when it was targeted and specific. Will the Secretary of State set out what criteria will determine where these new family hubs will be located, and what I might need to do to get one located in Leeds South West and Morley?

I can confirm to my hon. Friend that his local authority will benefit from the extra funding. The area is one of those not currently funded, but it will be receiving funding shortly—this year—to start the process of moving towards a Best Start family hub in the next year. We will be clear with local authorities that we want a focus on disadvantage, to ensure that the services are accessible to the families who need them the most. However, building on the great record of Sure Start, any parent or family who needs support, particularly in the early years, should be able to access it.

It is great news for the babies of Britain that a cross-party consensus has broken out about the importance of the very first days of life. I welcome that the family hubs and the Start for Life programme have morphed into the Best Start family hub programme, with cross-party support. Will the Secretary of State outline what difference parents in Worcestershire will see, specifically with regard to children with special educational needs?

The hon. Lady’s local authority area is not currently funded through the programme and it will receive funding, including a share of a £12 million development grant, which we will confirm in the next few weeks, to start the process, ahead of opening a Best Start family hub next year. As I said earlier, we will ensure there is a trained SEND professional in every setting so parents get early and timely access to support.

Twenty five years ago this year, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, joined my predecessor, John Denham, in opening one of the first Sure Start centres in the country, on the Weston estate. We remember the good that that did for families there, and we remember the effect of over a decade of slashing council budgets and shutting Sure Start centres. I welcome this announcement, which will benefit families in my constituency. Obviously, we are going to need more early years educators, many of whom we lost after the pandemic, to deliver this plan, so will my right hon. Friend set out how the Government will build that vital workforce where it is really needed?

As a Government, we want to ensure that more brilliant people want come and work in early years, and that they can gain qualifications and training, and build fulfilling careers. We will work with the sector to do that. We will recruit more early years teachers, particularly in the areas where they are needed most, more than doubling the number of funded early years initial teacher training courses by 2028, and rolling out a new early years teacher degree apprenticeship. That goes hand in hand with consulting with the sector on introducing a new £4,500 early years teacher incentive to attract and keep early years teachers in nurseries serving some of our most disadvantaged communities.

I really welcome the Secretary of State’s statement on Best Start family hubs. I draw attention to the words she said in her statement: she wants those hubs to be “open to all” and “rooted in disadvantaged communities”. Will she bear in mind the evidence from the Rural Services Network showing that if rural England was a distinct region of England, it would be England’s poorest region? By definition, communities such as mine in the Grange peninsula, the lakes, the dales and the Eden valley are a long way from service and population centres. What will the Secretary of State do to guarantee that young people in rural communities such as mine will be able to gain benefit from what she is proposing today?

I know the hon. Gentleman always champions his community and the needs of rural communities across our country. With the additional £500 million for local authorities to deliver Best Start family hubs, we will set out guidance on how they can ensure that they are serving the most disadvantaged communities, but local authorities will have flexibility in determining how that operates. I know that many local authorities that have retained or protected some element of similar provision have done so in a way that is really tailored to the needs of their communities, and I would be happy to discuss that further with the hon. Gentleman if he would like to write to me.

May I join with many of the others reliving their political youth in welcoming Sure Start and paying tribute to the late, great Tessa Jowell, whose vision for it inspired us all? One of the reasons why Tessa was so passionate about Sure Start is that she knew it would ultimately save us money by investing in families. The evidence now proves that for £1 in Sure Start, we got £2 back. The chutzpah of those on the Opposition Front Bench, who pushed up demand for childcare but failed to invest in it under the previous Government, therefore stands as a stark testimony. My right hon. Friend will know that we still need to put much more funding into childcare. In the spirit of Tessa Jowell, does the Secretary of State agree it is time to recognise that paying people to stay married, as the married couples allowance does, will not be as productive in helping families in this country as putting the £600 million it costs us into childcare and expanding access further?

My hon. Friend has always been a really powerful voice around campaigning for childcare, high-quality early years education and better support for parents. I join her in paying tribute to our late friend Tessa Jowell, who made such an enormous contribution and without whom Sure Start would not have happened. We are all in her debt.

My hon. Friend invites me to comment on matters of tax policy. She will forgive me if I do not respond directly to her, but I will ensure that her views are shared with the Chancellor ahead of any fiscal event. She is right to draw attention to the fact that this Labour Government are investing in early years education and childcare, reaching £9 billion next year. We are doubling the early years pupil premium, creating more places in school-based nurseries and ensuring that the brilliant people working in early years get the support and recognition that they finally deserve.

I spoke about SEND funding in Cambridgeshire in a Westminster Hall last month, and I was inundated with correspondence from constituents who find themselves suffering because of the county council’s inability to meet the statutory delivery timeframe for EHCPs—an issue that is set only to worsen with the lack of clarity around the forthcoming local government reorganisation. In the debate, I asked about those sweeping changes and received no clarity. Some 60% of EHCPs are outside special schools, and Cambridgeshire already has one of the poorest delivery rates in the country. How will the removal of a crucial lifeline for so many families in my constituency improve the educational prospects for the children who desperately need that support?

While I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s concern about ensuring that his constituents get the support that they deserve, including children with SEND, I gently say to him that it does no one any favours to scare parents. The guiding principle of any reform to the SEND system that we will set out will be about better, strengthened and improved support for children both inside and outside special schools. We want improved inclusivity and more specialist provision in mainstream schools and absolutely to draw on the expertise of the specialist sector and create the places where we need them. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need. The hon. Gentleman and the Conservatives left behind a system that had lost the confidence of parents—he describes the waits, the delays and the bureaucracy that too many parents have had to endure. A period of reflection and an ounce of humility would get the Conservatives a long way.

One of the very best things that the last Labour Government did was the roll-out of Sure Start, and one of the very worst things that the Conservative Government did was the hollowing out of so many hundreds of Sure Start centres, so I am thrilled by today’s announcement. Play has been squeezed out of childhood for so many years—stay-and-play was such a fundamental part of what Sure Start had to offer. Will the Secretary of State assure my constituents that stay-and-play, and play generally, will be a fundamental part of the offer of Best Start?

I know how hard my hon. Friend has campaigned on this issue, both on Sure Start and on the right of all children to play. Like him, I know that access to stay-and-play, rhyme time and those kinds of opportunities for children and families are incredibly important, especially for families who simply do not have the money for extras—who do not have the money to get on a long bus trip or take their children to soft play. That is why that kind of support for families is so critical, and it is why Best Start family hubs will make sure that children have opportunities to play and socialise and, critically, that parents get time together at what can be an isolating time. That will be a central part of everything that those family hubs deliver.

On Thursday, I visited the Acorns nursery and Forest school in Lindfield in my constituency, which was founded 40 years ago by the indomitable Janet Irwin. Its manager, Mrs Christina Franks, was recently awarded an MBE in the King’s birthday honours. The Acorns has been Ofsted outstanding for many years, but following a recent inspection in which one new piece of paperwork was found to be missing, it was downgraded. This was absolutely devastating for Mrs Irwin and Mrs Franks—they have shed tears and cancelled their 40th anniversary celebrations. The paperwork is now fixed, but Ofsted is unable to come and reinspect. What advice does the Secretary of State have for the Acorns?

As the hon. Lady will understand, I cannot comment on individual cases, but if she writes to me with the details, I can make sure that Ofsted looks carefully at the matters she has set out and provides her with a full response.

My first step into politics was campaigning to keep my local Sure Start centre open after the Tories took the short-sighted and frankly barbaric decision to decimate its funding. I am pleased that, with Kirklees council receiving funding, parents in my constituency can once again get the help they need and children can get the best start in life. Does the Secretary of State agree that this is the difference a Labour Government make? Where the Conservatives choose to close places that support families, we choose to open them.

It is only through my hon. Friend’s election and through a Labour Government that this investment will be coming to her community. The first investment will start to flow this year, allowing her local authority to get the systems and structures in place that will enable them to open up next year. I am delighted that in the first year of a Labour Government my hon. Friend’s constituents are already starting to feel the benefits that come from having sent her to this place.

I endorse the tribute to the late Tessa Jowell—she was a remarkable lady.

The Secretary of State pointedly refused to rule out scrapping EHCPs. If that is her intention, may I genuinely offer her some advice? Please do not do that. I have had parents in my surgery in tears of frustration, some of whom have had to spend over two years navigating a bureaucratic assault course to get an EHCP. [Interruption.] Please—if those EHCPs are taken away, there will be an anguished and angry backlash, so whatever the Secretary of State is contemplating on SEN, I ask her please not to abolish EHCPs.

The right hon. Gentleman has set out with great clarity why the system we have at the moment just is not working. His experience is that of many Members across this House; I, too, have met many constituents who have struggled for far too long to get the support that their children deserve. That is why, while we are investing through the Budget and the spending review in more training for staff, more places and better support for children with SEND, we are also taking our time to get this right. I am listening very carefully to parents, campaigners, charities and others, so that the reform we set out deals with precisely the concerns that the right hon. Gentleman has raised—how hard and adversarial it can be, and how parents have lost confidence in the system. On a more positive note, though, his local authority will benefit from today’s announcement, and will receive additional funding towards a Best Start family hub in his community.

Frankly, I am shocked that Opposition Members seem to be suffering from collective amnesia when it comes to figuring out how we got into this state in the first place. As a SEND parent, when I was struggling over the past seven years I would have welcomed some of the concern they are showing today for those who have children with SEND in early years. Parents are anxious and worried. That has not risen from a void, but anxious and worried they are. What reassurance and commitment can the Secretary of State give that parents and families of children with SEND will be listened to and their voices heard in any changes to the SEND system in the forthcoming White Paper? Change is desperately needed, but parents, families and children must be at the heart of that.

My hon. Friend speaks with real power, real expertise and personal experience on these matters, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to discuss much of this with her, including her experiences as a parent and as a constituency MP and what needs to change. I can give her the absolute and categorical assurance not just that that work will happen, but that it is already under way. I am spending much time listening to and speaking with parents of children with SEND, campaigners, charities, school leaders and others.

There is broad acceptance that the system just is not working, and the guiding principle of any reform that we bring forward will be rooted in better life chances for our children with SEND. We want more support, strengthened support and more timely support. However, we are already delivering, backed by extra investment going into the system. I appreciate the important need to build parents’ confidence in the system ahead of any wider reform, and that is why we are taking action already. We are determined to get longer term reform right, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend on making that a reality.

Wiltshire is part of the f40 group, which means that we get less money than practically anywhere else, despite the extra cost imposed by rurality. We were delighted last April when it was announced that, as part of the safety valve programme, we would get a new SEND school at Bitham Park in Westbury for 130 children, reducing the number of out-of-county placements that we have every year. Will the Minister say whether that programme will continue under her plans, and will she guarantee that we can still look forward to that new school opening next year?

The right hon. Gentleman will understand that I do not have at hand the precise details of the constituency school that he raises. I would be happy to arrange a meeting for him with the relevant Minister to discuss it further. We have secured additional investment in capital at the spending review. I recognise the wider question that he raises about making sure that there are more local places closer to home for children, to avoid them having to travel long distances, and we are looking at that carefully. As I say, I would be happy for him to have a meeting with the Minister to discuss it further.

I welcome the Government’s focus on prevention through the roll-out of Best Start family hubs. In Bedford, we have seen the benefits of integrated services building on the Sure Start legacy, with the Allhallows family hub set to open soon in Bedford town centre. I invite the Secretary of State to visit the hub to see how joined-up youth and family services can support children, prevent antisocial behaviour and give every child the best start in life.

I am delighted to hear about the experience in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I will do my very best to come and visit, but if not, I am sure one of my ministerial colleagues would be able to join him and see the services directly.

Some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children are those who have been adopted or are receiving kinship care. Will the Best Start family hubs provide any specific help for those who have lost out on access and support as a result of the cuts in the adoption and special guardianship support fund?

The extra investment that is going into Best Start family hubs runs alongside the additional £500 million that we are committing to early support and preventive services along with our colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A number of other Members have asked about the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We recognise its importance, which is why we have provided a budget of £50 million for the next year. We have had to make decisions to ensure that more children can benefit from such support, but that goes hand in hand with the kinship allowances and improved support for foster carers that we are determined to deliver as part of our wider reform of children’s social care.

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement. This will make a big difference for many families in my constituency.

An issue of which the Secretary of State is aware is the SEND override and the problems that it is causing local authorities. Second only to temporary accommodation and adult social care, SEND is the key area on which many of them are focusing, so I welcome the fact that she wants to work with campaigners and families in looking into this long-term issue. She also mentioned the digital offer for the Best Start family hubs. As she will know, many families—the very ones we need to target—are digitally excluded. Will she tell us a bit more about what that digital offer will be?

My hon. Friend asked first about the statutory SEND override, and I know that, as Chair of the Select Committee, she takes a serious interest in this area. We recognise that local authorities will need support during the transition to a reformed SEND system, which is why we extended the statutory override in the spending review, and, as my hon. Friend knows, we have provided some detail for local authorities and will provide more.

As for the digital offer, I appreciate my hon. Friend’s point about the need to give all families access to services. There are still challenges involving digital exclusion, and she was right to draw attention to them. We will provide more details about how the digital offer aligns with the NHS offer before long, but effective outreach support and community engagement are also critical. One of the key lessons that we should take from Sure Start—and the evidence for this is incredibly strong—is that it was at its most effective, and had the greatest reach and impact in respect of disadvantaged children, when there was strong engagement with communities. Through the work that the Cabinet Office has recently been leading, we have learnt of important ways in which we can ensure that more disadvantaged parents who are struggling with issues such as poverty have access to those services, and as we proceed with the wider roll-out we will be sure to take that on board as well.

More than 300,000 children in mainstream schools receive education, health and care plans, including many from my constituency, but it is being reported that that vital provision may disappear. Whatever the challenges of the SEND system, surely the answer is not to remove those rights, because families cannot afford to lose such precious protections. Will the Secretary of State confirm that EHCPs will not be removed for children receiving mainstream education?

Is it not fascinating that so many Conservative Members are suddenly taking a keen interest in support for children with SEND? The hon. Gentleman blithely says, “Whatever the challenges of the SEND system—”, but they are challenges that the Conservatives left behind, and they are challenges that this Labour Government will rise to. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need, and we will protect it. Alongside that, however, will be a better system, with strengthened support, improved access and more funding, something that the Conservatives failed to provide in 14 years. They left a terrible mess behind—families and children were failed—and a degree of humility and understanding from any of them would take us a great deal further along the way. If they do not want to be constructive and if they continue to duck the necessary decisions, we will confront those decisions and ensure that all our children are able to achieve and thrive, something in which they showed no interest.

Today is a really proud moment for me, because 20 years ago I worked for our brilliant Sure Start centres in Stoke-on-Trent. I saw at first hand the way they completely transformed the lives of families in my area. I then saw the terrible removal of family support by the Conservatives in the austerity years—they left more kids in poverty and more living in care. Can the Secretary of State outline how the roll-out of more family hubs will improve school readiness and help to lower the number of kids living in poverty and in care in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove?

My hon. Friend saw at first hand the difference that Sure Start made. Through his election to this place, a new generation of children in his constituency will once again benefit from the kind of support that was so essential, and we will support his local authority with additional funding for that. He is right to say that this is about children growing up in poverty and the wider failures in our children’s social care system. That is why I am so proud that, thanks to the actions of a Labour Government, more children will receive free school meals through the expansion of eligibility to all families in receipt of universal credit.

Alongside that, we will deliver the biggest reform in a generation to children’s social care, to make sure that families are better supported to stay together where they can, with early help and targeted intervention. Where that is not possible, we will make sure that our most vulnerable children do not see wholly inadequate and terrible placements that fail to deliver the kind of support that we would expect for our own children. That is the difference that a Labour Government will make.

I sincerely thank the Secretary of State for today’s announcement, recognising that one-stop shops for advice and support should be available to every parent in every community. I am sure she will know that my local authority, West Sussex county council, currently does not receive Start for Life funding, so I am excited to see how this delivers for my constituents. I chair the all-party parliamentary group on infant feeding. Can the Secretary of State confirm that Best Start centres will be firmly rooted in evidence-based feeding support to ensure that all parents, regardless of how they choose to feed their babies, can access the guidance and help that they so desperately need?

Through today’s announcement, the Department for Education will fund support in the hon. Lady’s constituency, and I am sure that will make a big difference to the people she represents. I am grateful for her work on infant feeding, and I can give her an assurance that the support put in place will be rooted in the best available evidence right across all the interventions that the Best Start family hubs will provide. If there is more information about the work of the all-party parliamentary group that she would like to share with me, I would be happy to consider it further.

I was pleased to meet officials from my right hon. Friend’s Department at a centre in Hackney. I also met officials from the Department for Work and Pensions, and it was really apparent that the work being done to help parents get into work is critical. Could she expand on how that will fit into the Best Start centres?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for identifying the work that is already going on in her constituency. Although it is led by the Department for Education, the strategy that we are setting out today is the work that we will drive right across Government. We are working with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions on access to childcare support and on routes back into work and training for parents, but also with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care on how we can improve access to speech and language support, health visiting support and much more besides. That is why my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary set out a direction that aligns with ours through the 10-year NHS plan.

In her statement, the Secretary of State said that every child deserves a great education, including children with SEND. I do not think anybody could disagree with that, but for parents and pupils in my constituency, and up and down the country, warm words are one thing but concrete outcomes are another. Can the Secretary of State guarantee that not a single child who is currently in receipt of special needs support will lose it under the Government’s policies?

Children will continue to receive the high-quality support that they need—I can give the hon. Gentleman that absolute and categorical assurance. Once again, I observe that Conservative Members did not show the same level of interest when they were in government. That is why we have ended up in this sorry state, with far too many children being failed by the system left behind by his party. We are determined to improve outcomes for children with SEND and to put in place better support, and that is backed up by the extra investment already going into the system.

Of course, there is much more that we need to do to deliver better outcomes for all children. That is what we are working towards, and the reform that we will set out will be properly informed and shaped by the conversations, discussions and meetings that I, ministerial colleagues and officials are having with parents, groups and campaigners in order to get this right. If the Conservatives would like to be constructive about that—just for once—I would be happy to engage with them on it, but I am afraid that is not what we are seeing this afternoon.

The roll-out of the Best Start family hubs across every local council area will make a huge difference to families, tackling inequalities in my constituency, particularly with the cross-working between health, social care and education. Like so many others, I am absolutely incredulous at the Conservatives, who—helped by the Liberal Democrats in the coalition years—forced so many cuts on local authorities that led to the demise of Sure Start centres. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is yet again a Labour Government who have made the decisions that will break down barriers to opportunities for all children, regardless of postcode?

Yes, it is this Labour Government who will ensure that families get better access to health support and family services, and that they can do so much more rapidly. My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the record of the last Government in this area. She will know that it is not just in this part of our work that we are delivering real change for families in her community. I was delighted to join her to visit one of the first new free breakfast clubs opening at Denbigh primary school, and it was brilliant to be there right at the start of its breakfast club expansion. That is the difference she is bringing to her community for families, children and their life chances.

Jill, a speech and language therapist from my constituency, told me that in the last five years the decline in children’s ability to be understood and to socialise has been stark, leading to their own isolation. I also heard from William’s mum yesterday about the isolation of mums and dads who nobody wants to be with because their children are difficult. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether there will be health visitors and those who identify speech and developmental delay in Best Start family hubs, and whether local authorities in Dorset that appear affluent but have pockets of deep poverty will be able to access funding?

Yes, I can confirm that. The hon. Member is right to draw attention to the critical work of our health visitors and our speech and language therapists, who do some amazing work to support children and families, but I appreciate that they often feel overstretched and overworked at the moment. That is why we want to ensure—and I am working closely with the Health Secretary on this—that we not only support more health visitors to train and to work in the profession, but deliver improvements to health visiting to better support parents, to make it easier to access health visiting services and to ensure that more children are getting the early checks that are so important in identifying speech and language need at the earliest possible point.

I have seen some brilliant work that our speech and language therapists have done on this. While some children will of course continue to have an enduring need that requires specialist intervention, I think there is more we can do in the reception year, with the Nuffield early language intervention, to identify children who might need additional targeted support, but who can make very rapid progress with that support. The evidence is clear that that is particularly the case for more disadvantaged children.

Today’s news on Best Start family hubs is absolutely brilliant. The loss of Sure Start in communities such as mine is still keenly felt by the local community. However, families need support not just from Monday to Friday, as was brought home to me last week on a visit to the family department of my local hospital. Is any thought being given to extending services—particularly when it comes to healthcare and education, as well as the additional support in these hubs—to weekends?

My hon. Friend is right about access to both family support services and health services. I have discussed this with the Health Secretary, and I know he takes a keen interest in it. When families are able to access appointments only during the school day, that can mean children’s attendance at school takes a hit. That is why, through the NHS 10-year plan, we are working very closely on that. Also, one of the lessons I saw from the last Sure Start programme was how, when we listen to communities and parents, we deliver the services they want, which are not always the services the professionals think they need. That is why working with parents and communities on designing services in a way that is genuinely accessible to them will be a critical part of what we expect local authorities to do.

Only 34% of disadvantaged pupils in Bath met the required standards for reading, writing or maths in 2021-22, which was well below the national average. It is always surprising that Bath, which is a prosperous city, has very deep pockets of deprivation. The Language for Life programme in my constituency has made a big difference in participating schools for the young people who need additional, but not specialist, support—the Secretary of State has already mentioned that difference between additional and specialist support. How can she ensure that the most disadvantaged families, who are the least likely to ask for support, have access to these additional services?

The hon. Member is right to seek to ensure that families facing extra challenges or struggles and the most disadvantaged families have access to Best Start family hubs. Again, the evidence, particularly from the first phase of Sure Start, demonstrated that engagement with parents and communities—good outreach work—is critical to building that. I recognise what she says about some of the gaps, including in what are otherwise perceived as prosperous communities. That is why we are putting a lot of emphasis on support for reception year to make sure that, as children arrive at school, they have the support they need to thrive, and to make sure that our brilliant staff working in early years and reception are able to identify need much more quickly and put in place the support required.

Given the importance of family hubs, I know the Secretary of State shares my disappointment that neither Central Bedfordshire nor Hertfordshire previously received a single penny of family hub funding. It was vulnerable families in the towns and villages in those areas of my constituency who were paying the price, so I am delighted that we are putting that right today. One of the shortcomings that led to is not enough young people with special educational needs having those needs identified early with support being put in place at an early age when, as we all know, the evidence tells us it is most effective. As we roll out more Best Start hubs, how can we ensure that tackling SEND challenges and providing support at the earliest possible opportunity are at the heart of the Government’s plan?

I agree with my hon. Friend, and we want to ensure that no parent faces parenthood alone. Being a parent is a wonderful joy, but it sometimes comes with many challenges. That is particularly true when a parent is worried that their child is struggling and not quite making the progress they would expect, so being able to access family support services close to home is absolutely critical. He is also right to draw attention to the need for better support for children with SEND. That is why we will make sure that Best Start family hubs have a dedicated professional working with families of children with additional needs.

I welcome today’s announcement, but Joanne from my constituency of Taunton and Wellington has asked me to advocate for children with special educational needs and disabilities, given the numbers involved and the limitations on resources. This is at a time when Somerset’s auditors have blamed the predecessor council for decisions that

“led to funding shortfalls in each future year in perpetuity.”

Will the Secretary of State and the Government ensure that councils such as Somerset are properly funded so that parents and children with special educational needs do not have to wait the one or two years they currently do for assessment, which can devastate their education?

At the Budget and at the spending review, we allocated additional investment to support councils. However, I recognise what the hon. Member says about the importance of timely support in identifying need much more quickly and putting in place the support required, which is why we are investing an extra £1 billion in SEND support. We are providing councils with £740 million to support them to create more specialist places in mainstream schools to make sure we build parents’ confidence in the system and create the places needed, alongside additional investment to support the workforce to better support children with SEND.

I am so grateful for my right hon. Friend’s focus and commitment on investing in our very youngest, not least because when we invest in early years, we change the trajectory of a child’s life. Will she look at the model we have created in York, where we have not only a SEND co-ordinator, but a SEND hub, so that we can bring all those specialist services together, which can be really transformative for families as a one-stop shop?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I know the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby) has visited and seen at first hand the difference that is making and the impact it is having. We are very keen, through this programme and wider developments in the strategy, to draw on the brilliant practice and expertise that is out there. I would be happy to discuss that further with my hon. Friend to really understand what York is doing well and how we might think of that as the basis for further developments right across the country.

May I invite the Secretary of State to congratulate Burhill primary school in Hersham, which I visited this morning? It has been re-awarded for excellence in wellbeing for the second year in a row for providing great mental health provision. My constituency is a large contributor to the Exchequer, but it is also one of the most unequal. Headteachers see that disadvantage every year in their reception classes. Will she make a commitment that the hubs will be distributed throughout the country, in every constituency where there is need?

The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the importance of mental health in our schools, which is why we are rolling out mental health support teams right across the country. What I can confirm to the House today is that, as well as making sure we have funding in place for the areas that do not currently receive funding—65 local authorities—we will also be rolling out additional investment to all local authorities. We will confirm allocations for all local authorities in the autumn, but this is an extra half a billion pounds of investment over the course of the spending review period—a significant extra investment in our children and their life chances.

I thank the Secretary of State for her brilliant statement today and, as I did with the Prime Minister last week, I thank her for her recent visit to Harlow. How will the hubs, like Sure Start before them, work in collaboration with local communities to benefit people in Harlow and across Essex? I have to say, people on the doorstep still talk about the importance of Sure Start in my community.

We will ensure that voluntary and community groups have an important role to play in our family hubs. I am grateful for everything my hon. Friend does to champion Harlow and his community. Harlow will now benefit from the extra investment that I am announcing today through the “best start in life” strategy. It is through his election to this place and a Labour Government that his constituents will once more see the services they need and deserve.

I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, which contains really good news. I very much welcome the report she has released, which states:

“Postcodes shouldn’t dictate the support available, but one in four families with children under five cannot access local children’s centres or Family Hubs, rising to one in three lower income families.”

Today, the Secretary of State has ensured that more children and parents will be able to access opportunity—truly good news. She will be aware that children in Northern Ireland live in greater poverty than those in most postcodes here. I know, personally, that she has a deep interest in Northern Ireland, although she does not have responsibility for it. I appreciate that and I welcome the conversations she has had with me and with other Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland. What discussions will she have with the Education Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure that children in Northern Ireland postcodes have access to these types of hubs? Will additional Barnett consequentials funding be available for rural areas, which are so isolated?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, I was in Northern Ireland at the end of last year, during which time I was able, as part of my work co-chairing the child poverty taskforce, to meet many charities, campaigners and parents about what they wanted to see through that work. That was important to hear, because the responsibilities that we carry through the child poverty taskforce are UK-wide. That was also a welcome opportunity for all UK Education Ministers to come together, including his colleagues in Northern Ireland. We continue to work with our colleagues right across the UK as part of that important work.

I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and for her recognition that where people live should not dictate the support available to them when they are growing up, nor when they want to start a family. I really welcome the work that she is leading to support our young people’s mental health and wellbeing. She will recognise that younger and younger children are presenting with mental health issues. Will she set out how our Best Start family hubs will help to address the early drivers of mental illness for children and young people before they reach crisis point, and ensure that every child is supported to thrive from an early age?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Through the announcement today, his local authority will benefit from extra investment in Best Start family hubs. Again, that is the difference that comes from electing him to this place. He is right to identify the growing challenge that many of our young people experience with their wellbeing and mental health, including at a young age. Alongside the early support that we need to put in place, I know that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is determined to ensure that we are taking action on more acute services to tackle the unacceptable waits for child and adolescent mental health services. In addition, the support for parents through the Best Start family hubs will be critical. It is parents, working together with their children and professionals, who make the biggest difference. The evidence from Sure Start was clear about that.

I warmly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement. In Dudley, our family hub is in St Thomas’s, one of the most deprived wards in the borough. Currently, it provides parent groups, baby clinics, prenatal support and much more, but its funding is uncertain. Will my right hon. Friend outline how the new announcement will enhance the hub, so that families can continue to receive vital services, including SEND support?

Through today’s announcement, we are ensuring that areas that do not currently receive funding will receive it, but alongside that we will ensure that all local authorities are able to deliver into the next phase. My hon. Friend is right that the services in her community, including those serving the most disadvantaged communities, make an enormous difference. That is why I am incredibly proud that we are investing half a billion pounds across the spending review period, which will allow us to reach half a million more children than is the case right now.

I congratulate my right hon. Friend, partly for the launch today of the national year of reading. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on literacy, that is a wonderful and joyous thing to see. We all know that reading with children can be great not just for their literacy development, but for their oracy, as well as for boosting confidence and parental engagement with children.

In Stoke-on-Trent, we have a wonderful family hub operating in the Bentilee ward in my constituency. Its success is due to the fact that it was co-created by organisations on the ground, such as Thrive At Five and Alpha Academies, that understand the importance of families and the nuances of those communities. Will the Secretary of State say a little more about what flexibility there will be in the future hubs? May I invite her or one of her ministerial team to visit the Bentilee hub, so that they can see what great work we are doing and how it might inform national practice?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I have heard much about the work going on in Stoke, including the Thrive At Five programme, and I know my hon. Friend met the Minister to talk about that. I would be happy to visit, or perhaps one of my colleagues might be able to, but I would love to see or hear more about what is going on there, because I have heard wonderful things. It demonstrates the value of ensuring that services are responsive to what parents want, as well as there being a clear set of expectations about minimum levels of support alongside that, really targeted to the needs of communities and parents. That was where Sure Start was at its best: listening to communities, working with communities and building that trust, including among families who might otherwise not feel able to access that kind of service.

My hon. Friend mentions the national year of reading. I am delighted with the role he has played to make it a reality that today we are announcing that 2026 will be a national year of reading. It will be a welcome and timely opportunity to spread the joy and love of reading throughout our country to ensure that all our children have access to a fantastic range of books. Perhaps we, as adults, can lead by example by reading a little bit more and not scrolling quite so much.

I thank the Secretary of State and her Department for rightly putting a spotlight on the early years. Before coming to this place, I led a global campaign to ensure that early childhood development was included in the UN’s sustainable development goals, and I worked with the late, great Tessa Jowell to highlight the UK’s global leadership on this subject. It is great to see a Labour Government stepping back into that leadership role, because we know that early interventions are critical, especially for children with additional needs. On that point, will the Secretary of State confirm how SEND provision will be embedded in Best Start family hubs to support parents and children in my Bournemouth West constituency?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for all the campaigning she has done over many years to get us to this point. It is only a Labour Government who would bring forward this kind of strategy to ensure that all our children are set up to succeed, breaking the link between background and success, and ensuring that at the earliest moments in our children’s lives, we give them the support they need. That is why we are setting out, through the strategy, the important work that Best Start family hubs will provide in terms of trained support for children with SEND, so that we are better able to identify additional needs at an earlier point. That runs alongside further funding for early years special educational needs co-ordinators, so that staff in our early years settings are better trained and better able to support families. When children then arrive at school, teachers will already be able to understand where there might be additional challenges or where extra support may be required.

I thank the Minister for her statement. In Ilford, our engagement hubs bring together family services, citizens advice, revenues and benefits teams, and enforcement officers—in effect, the council is taken into the community—so I particularly welcome today’s announcement of Best Start family hubs that will operate on a similar model. Will the Secretary of State explore the opportunity to co-locate services as per the Redbridge model, and confirm that trained SEND co-ordinators will be placed in the new hubs to identify needs, work with parents and ensure easy access to early years support?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for identifying the brilliant work that is already going on in his constituency. Through today’s announcement and the “best start in life” strategy, his community and his constituents will see extra investment and more support for precisely the kinds of services he identified. This will be a crucial part of the shift that we make both in education and in health, moving away from treatment to prevention, with more support rooted in communities that it is easier for parents and families to access and that, critically, is focused on delivering the best start in life for all our children.

Like others, I welcome the ’90s resurgence. With that in mind, how will this announcement coincide commitments to inclusive play in parks? I am sure we all agree that all children deserve a park life.

That was very good. I slightly resisted being drawn into the Oasis references earlier, and now we have moved on to Blur. I will stay out of that one, even though I have my preference.

My hon. Friend is right to talk about the importance of play for all children. It is striking—I am sure she will have heard the same thing from her younger constituents—that many children often do not feel safe to go out of the house and to be on our streets. We absolutely have to tackle that, because it is having a big impact on not just their mental health but their physical health. I would be happy to discuss that further with my hon. Friend.

I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. At a recent joint meeting of the Work and Pensions Committee and the Education Committee, Sure Start was named by the panel as the previous Labour Government’s most positive policy for children. The policy had a very proud legacy, yet the Conservative party closed 50% of our centres in Leicestershire. Does the Secretary of State agree that building the foundations and investing in families, as happens at our family hub in North West Leicestershire, will ensure long-term benefits like those achieved by Sure Start? Will she say how Best Start family hubs will work alongside pre-schools and primary schools to aid the delicate transition into school?

The hubs will be key to our vision for how we better join up education and health services in the community, but they will also work with voluntary and community groups, childminders, libraries and others to bring services close to local people. My hon. Friend talked about the important links between early years settings and the start of school. We are setting out through the strategy how we will do more to better join up the support between early years settings and schools. We will use that not only as the basis for greater expertise, training and development, but, crucially, as the basis for better life chances and opportunities for children. If we can identify where children are struggling and not making the progress we would hope they were making, and share that at the start of school, it will make a really big difference.

As the mother of young children, I welcome the creation of “best start in life” family hubs and share the Government’s determination to give every child the best start in life in Aldershot, Farnborough, Hawley, Blackwater and Yateley. My constituency is home to thousands of serving personnel and their families. Military life can bring unique pressures: frequent relocations, disrupted healthcare and childcare, and long periods of separation. Will the Secretary of State set out how the new hubs will support armed forces families and honour our commitment to prevent discrimination under the armed forces covenant?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for everything she does to champion our armed forces communities, not least given their importance to her constituency. I will make sure that we reflect further on how we can ensure that our forces families are able to access services.

My hon. Friend’s local authority is one area that currently does not receive funding but, after today’s announcement, it will shortly receive funding. Her area will share in a £12 million development grant that we will confirm in the next few weeks, to help it hit the ground running and get set up from April next year. There will then be ongoing support throughout the spending review period. I do, though, take seriously my hon. Friend’s challenge about making sure that forces families are able to access and benefit from the services. I would be happy to have a conversation with her, or if she can provide more information about what would be helpful to her constituency, I will happily look into it.

I strongly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement. Under the Conservatives, 40 Sure Start children’s centres in Birmingham were shut down, including seven in my constituency, with devastating consequences for thousands of children who needed that support. I am so glad that Labour is taking action to turn the tide. Will she confirm that when funding allocations are made at local authority level, factors such as population size and child poverty rates, which are particularly important in an authority like Birmingham, will be taken into account?

Yes, we will consider the factors that my hon. Friend mentioned. Later in the autumn, we will confirm the allocations across all local authorities for the next phase. That runs alongside the development grant that will go to local authorities that do not currently receive funding. It will be a massive boost to my hon. Friend’s constituents and to people right across the country; it is half a billion pounds over the course of the spending review period.

As someone who felt the benefits of being born and growing up under the last Labour Government, I welcome this Labour Government’s decisions to give children the best start in life. Local charity Home-Start Kettering does phenomenal work, but over recent years it has seen an increase in demand for its services. Will the Secretary of State confirm how the “best start in life” strategy will work with local charities to help achieve the Government’s objective of getting more children school ready?

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the important work of voluntary and community groups, which will have a central role to play, not least because they are often better able to access and support families who might otherwise find it difficult to go through the doors of a centre, and who might feel a certain kind of reluctance about statutory services. Their role and work is critical to what we will take forward. My hon. Friend is right that the last Labour Government did amazing things, and today’s announcement builds on the proud record of Sure Start.

As a fellow SEND parent, I fully concur with the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) about the system we inherited and the lack of humility from those on the Opposition Benches.

I thank the Secretary of State for visiting my constituency 10 days ago to see the incredible work carried out by staff at Peareswood primary school in Slade Green. Slade Green and the northern part of Crayford have real deprivation, and the Conservative council in the London borough of Bexley closed the Sure Start in both those wards. Does the Secretary of State agree that it was ridiculous not only that the council did that, but that it received no money from the previous Conservative Government for family hubs? Will she commit today to turning that situation around and finally giving my council money for family hubs?

Yes. As a result of today’s announcement, my hon. Friend’s local authority will now receive funding to roll out those services. I join in his sheer incredulity at the fact that such effective, brilliant services were closed. How short-sighted, and what an impact we have seen on children and their life chances! I know from my visit to Peareswood in my hon. Friend’s constituency how much brilliant work is going on, thanks to the amazing staff who work in our schools and in early years education. I also know what a brilliant Member of Parliament staff there have championing their cause in the House.

I hear the most thought-provoking questions from my youngest constituents. On a recent visit to an infant school, a six-year-old asked me what I thought the Government’s most important achievements might be. Today, I would like to tell her that our two local authorities, Wokingham and Reading borough councils, which previously received no family hub funding, are each set to receive a Best Start family hub. That is one of the most important achievements a Labour Government can make. The Institute for Fiscal Studies is clear about the evaluation and the long-term economic benefits; will the Secretary of State ensure that economic evaluation is baked in, so that we can ensure that these projects are funded for the long run?

Absolutely. The impact on children and their life chances is clear, but the work of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which we have looked at carefully, is also clear about the wider economic benefits. I am delighted that my hon. Friend’s constituents will now benefit from a Best Start family hub. The reason why they, including the children she just mentioned, will benefit is that the people of her constituency sent her to this place and elected a Labour Government.

The last Government’s decimation of Sure Start was nothing short of social vandalism; the paroxysms of outrage from the Conservative Benches felt like an arsonist complaining that the fire service had not put the fire out quickly enough. I welcome this policy because the family hubs will make a real difference. Can my right hon. Friend tell me how constituencies that are, like Calder Valley, defined by towns and somewhat ropey local transport will get the full benefit of the family hubs, as urban areas will?

My hon. Friend’s community will benefit from the extra investment in today’s announcement, alongside the wider announcements in the “best start in life” strategy, which focuses on a number of important areas, including early-years education, reception, the support we put in place for parents, and the funding to deliver that.

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention, as others have, to the needs of communities that are geographically isolated, including rural communities. Some of the best and most effective work that we have seen has included outreach work with communities and families directly—work to understand their needs and tailor and deliver services accordingly. Being responsive to what parents are telling services would be best and most effective.

Last year, I was delighted to welcome my right hon. Friend to our family hub in Guisborough—one of three that our Labour council opened across East Cleveland. I commend the work of Nicola Hall and her team at those centres. Today our Government have gone even further by investing in early years services to benefit working families right across the country. I commend this statement and this Secretary of State for delivering that. Will local authorities with existing provision, like mine, be able to access this funding and benefit in future?

I had a fantastic visit to my hon. Friend’s constituency. It demonstrated that even in the face of the very difficult funding settlement that many local councils have endured, brilliant councils have sought to prioritise investment. As the then lead member on that council, my hon. Friend did incredible work ensuring that families had access to support. What has always remained with me from our visit was how important it was to bring speech and language provision into the family hub. We really want to build on that. Yes, I can confirm that all local authorities will benefit from the announcement today, including my hon. Friend’s. We will confirm allocations for all local authorities in the autumn.

The previous Conservative Government did not give a penny to Bracknell Forest council to deliver early years support through family hubs. Can the Secretary of State confirm that she will end that injustice? Bracknell families need that support too—for SEND and speech and language, as well as health support. It is so desperately needed. Will she provide that support?

Yes, we will make sure that my hon. Friend’s local authority gets the support that it was previously denied. It will be able to share in a £12 million development grant, which we will confirm in the next few weeks, so that it can hit the ground running and put in place the services needed from April next year. We will then confirm the wider programme of allocations alongside it.

I know how much my hon. Friend cares about ensuring that all our children get the best start in life, including children with SEND. It is only because his constituents sent him here and delivered a Labour Government that they will now benefit from Best Start family hubs and all the brilliant services alongside them.

I really welcome the statement today, as I am sure do the residents of Normacot, whose excellent family hub they fought hard to save many years ago. But we need more in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South. Stoke-on-Trent consistently lags behind the national average. Many children start school unable to speak, and infant mortality rates are the highest in the country. We consistently rank highest for the number of children in care across England, and in some parts of my constituency, child poverty is as high as 76%. Stoke’s children deserve better. The Best Start hubs offer an opportunity to improve health, to help children reach their development goals and to improve parental wellbeing. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the critical need for more of these hubs in my constituency?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to the shocking failure to support so many children growing up in poverty or going through the social care system. The outcomes are often tragic. That failure is inexplicable, given the trauma that many of those young people have experienced. We are bringing forward reform to children’s social care to make sure that all our children get the best start in life. The Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), is leading that work; she brings her experience of social work to bear, so that we understand how we can do more.

I will be more than happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) to discuss how we can go further, but her local authority will benefit shortly from extra investment around the development grant and wider funding across the spending review period.

I warmly welcome the roll-out of Best Start family hubs. They build on the legacy of Sure Start—one of the proudest achievements of the last Labour Government.

The Secretary of State may remember our visit to High Tunstall college of science when she last came to my constituency of Hartlepool. The head told us that he could pinpoint precisely the year group that had not had access to Sure Start, such were the additional challenges that those young people faced. Does the Secretary of State agree that the brilliant announcement today means an investment not only in our children and grandchildren, but in our wider society, and that it will ultimately save the taxpayer money?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: as well as the real benefits to children and families, there are clear economic benefits. He describes what I have heard from so many school and college leaders and university vice principals across our country. They tell me, “If you can do one thing, invest in the early years—that’s where you will make the single biggest difference.” That is what this Labour Government are doing.

I thank the Secretary of State for her fantastic statement. Could she elaborate on how the Best Start family hubs will support the families that I represent in Erewash, and those across Derbyshire, who are fighting for a better deal for children with special educational needs and disabilities?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue. Change and reform are needed to the system. That is why we are investing an extra £1 billion in support for children with SEND, and why we are investing in capital programmes to create the specialist places needed in mainstream schools, alongside delivering better mainstream inclusion. It is why we are rolling out the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools programme—the PINS programme—across more than 1,000 extra schools. We are delivering the support around neurodivergence that many of our staff say they need. Through the PINS programme, I have seen the critical work that can be done between parents and staff—often quite small, practical changes that can make the world of difference to children’s attendance at school and, critically, lead to better outcomes for children with SEND.

They say that it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a Labour Government to give every child the best start in life. I warmly thank the Secretary of State for her announcement. As she may well know, in Suffolk not a penny is spent on family hubs at the moment. She said that this announcement was a game changer for children with special educational needs, and mentioned future provision being inclusive. In rural areas, there are declining populations in our primary schools. Will she outline whether there is an opportunity to use the increase in capacity to increase provision for SEND?

Following today’s announcement, my hon. Friend’s community will benefit for the first time from funding that will allow for a Best Start family hub and wider services delivered through that. She is right to identify that although the falling birthrate, including in her community, presents a challenge, it allows us to think about how we can use the schools estate to better deliver support for children.

It is a key priority of this Labour Government to deliver more specialist provision in the mainstream. I have seen some brilliant examples from right across the country of children being able to go to school in their local community with the targeted, specialist support that is needed. They can spend some of their time in a mainstream setting but also get the additional specialist support required. Through our capital settlement at the spending review, we will deliver more support for children in her constituency and right across the country.

Order. To ensure that everyone gets in, could questions and answers be short?

The IFS found that Sure Start delivered benefits significantly greater than its cost, yet it was still slashed by the Tories, with well over 1,000 centres closing. It was one of the biggest acts of vandalism under austerity, stunting life chances for too many for a generation. Can the Secretary of State outline how she expects this investment to work in areas with very high levels of inequality, such as my constituency, where life expectancy at birth differs by 19 years between one community and another?

As my hon. Friend says, we know from research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that Sure Start generated widespread long-term benefits in education and health, even reducing school absence and identifying support for children with SEND much more quickly. We will build on the lessons of Sure Start as we roll out Best Start family hubs. My hon. Friend is right to mention the importance of tackling entrenched inequalities within communities as part of that and ensuring that all our children are set up to succeed.

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Although new and fit for the modern age, it harks back to an era not only when great bands were in their infancy, but when a Labour Government were investing in our young people in their infancy. Back at that time, I attended the dads club at the Sure Start centre in Rugby every Saturday morning, where dads from all backgrounds benefited from the advice and camaraderie that came of those meetings, and they helped us become better dads. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Best Start family centres will help dads, and all parents, to become better parents, which will really help with our young people’s life outcomes?

I agree with my hon. Friend, and I am pleased to hear about his experiences. It is important that services delivered through Best Start family hubs respond to the needs of mums, dads and carers alike. The example he gives demonstrates the importance of listening to parents about what they want to see. Through the measures announced today, his local authority area will benefit from extra investment in order to get up and running in the next year and on an ongoing basis. That shows once again the difference that a Labour Government are bringing to his community.

I congratulate the Secretary of State; her measures will certainly give every child the best start in life, and Best Start is one of her many best ideas. We have a crisis of basic nutrition, where children are obese while also malnourished, and have decayed teeth. Does the Secretary of State agree that Best Start will go far to address this issue?

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the important link between education and health, particularly given his expertise. That link is why I was proud that we announced a big expansion to free school meals to make sure that more of our children get a nutritious meal during the day. It is why the Health Secretary is working to tackle tooth decay, which is one of the biggest reasons for hospitalisation of our children. It is also why we are taking action through this strategy to improve access to vaccination and health visiting support and to ensure that all of our children have a healthy life. As my hon. Friend says, those problems are profound and need to be tackled.

As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on babies, the most common refrain I hear is, “Bring back Sure Start.” I commend my right hon. Friend on focusing on learning from the past and looking to the future, and I thank her for showing the best of the Labour party by starting to restore the Sure Start legacy. Many of my constituents and service providers in Ribble Valley tell me that the hardest thing about being a parent or supporting parents is a lack of consistent information and places to go for support. Does the Secretary of State agree that it has been deeply confusing over the past few years for those living in the 65 local authorities where crucial services and family hubs have not been funded, and will the Labour Government end that injustice?

Through the measures announced today, my hon. Friend’s local authority will now benefit from funding to make that a reality. She is right to say that even when services are available, it can be confusing for parents to know where to go to access high-quality, trusted advice. The digital offer we are developing with NHS colleagues will ensure that all parents, regardless of where they are or what their family circumstances are, can access good-quality information alongside that.

I welcome that, through Best Start, Central Bedfordshire is getting funding for a family hub for the first time. Will the Secretary of State explain how this will be linked to areas of deprivation and urge the independent council to look closely at the statistics that show that places such as Dunstable and Houghton Regis are the areas where children do not get the best start in life at the moment?

My hon. Friend is right that her local authority will benefit from the funding announced today. It will share in a £12 million development grant, and further funding will follow alongside that. We will support the local authority to get up and running and then ensure that it has the services it needs. This scheme will have a real focus on disadvantaged children while being available and accessible to all parents. The guidance we are issuing to local authorities will reflect that.

I welcome this Government’s commitment to early years, because we all know that investment in early years has a profound impact not only on the lives of children but on communities such as mine in Croydon East. Does the Secretary of State agree that the fact that one in three low-income families currently do not have access to a local children’s centre or family hub should be a great source of shame for the Conservatives? Can she also outline how the measures announced today will help to fix the failure of the previous Government and give all of our children the best start in life?

Our announcement today is about making sure that more parents and children are able to access high-quality parenting, healthcare and education services. The half a billion we are investing over the spending review period will allow us to reach half a million more children, including in my hon. Friend’s community and constituencies right across the country.

As a mother of two, I saw the decline in children’s services under the last Government in real time, so I welcome this statement. I particularly welcome identification and intervention for SEND kids. Will the Secretary of State say how this announcement changes the funding for vital children’s services in my area?

The measures I have announced mean that local authorities that do not currently receive funding, including my hon. Friend’s local authority, will receive funding through a share of a development grant to make sure that they can get up and running from next April. In the autumn we will confirm allocations across all local authorities for the next phase. We want to make sure that disadvantaged children and families are able to access services, and we will ensure that local authorities have the clear direction to make that a reality.

I join others in hugely welcoming today’s announcement. I will get straight on the case and urge Buckinghamshire council to prioritise Aylesbury for a Best Start family hub, given that we have the highest levels of deprivation in our county. I have been campaigning for better understanding of and support for maternal mental health. Many new mums tell me that what they really need in their community is somewhere they can go for advice and company. Does the Secretary of State agree that this should be of real benefit to parents who are struggling with their mental health?

Yes, and I am delighted that my hon. Friend’s local authority and community will benefit from today’s announcement. She is right that access to mental healthcare for new mums in particular is really important. It can be a very lonely and isolating experience, and being able to chat to other parents and access support in a supportive environment is incredibly important. What we are announcing today will support more mothers to get that important access to early support and will help to prevent problems from becoming more serious.

A few weeks ago I visited Leftwich primary school and met the fantastic headteacher Claire Harrison and her team. The one thing Claire wanted to get across was how much the job has changed over the last decade. The dismantling of early help and prevention services has meant that teachers and headteachers are spending more time essentially being the parents of last resort rather than undertaking their core function of educating children. It should not be this way, and we should be clear that dismantling Sure Start was an act of utter vandalism by the previous Government. It is fantastic that Cheshire West and Chester council will benefit from the new money for Best Start, building on what Sure Start did best, but does the Secretary of State agree that it is ridiculous that Cheshire West was ever put in a position where there was no money to fund these vital services?

My hon. Friend’s local authority will now benefit from this extra funding, and it will make a tremendous difference to children and families across his community. Like my hon. Friend, I have heard that story from so many school leaders, teachers and support staff who go above and beyond to support families who are often facing very real challenges and difficulties around homelessness, poverty. We want to make their job easier. That is why we are expanding free school meals eligibility, putting in place new free breakfast clubs, cutting the cost of school uniforms and increasing the national minimum wage. Those are all measures designed to support families, and they will bring big educational benefits too.

Twelve months ago the Prime Minister gave his final speech of the election campaign in Redditch in a Sure Start centre abandoned by the last Government, in an economically deprived area of my town that was forgotten by the last Government, and in a county that did not receive a single penny of funding for any family hubs in 14 years. Despite the chuntering from the Conservatives, does the Secretary of State agree that it is actions not words that lead to the best futures for our children?

I agree with my hon. Friend. It is this Labour Government who will once again ensure that all our children are set up to succeed. We will build on the proud legacy of Sure Start, take the best evidence of what works, and expand and enhance that for the generations of children to come, in his community and across the country.

That is critical, which is why we need to bring together healthcare, education, libraries, childminders and voluntary and community groups in that endeavour to ensure that all our children get the best start in life. Like my hon. Friend, I am determined to ensure that background does not equal success. The driving mission of this Labour Government is to ensure that where you are from and the family you are born into does not determine what you achieve, and that your hard work, your aspiration and all that you do drives what you can achieve.