Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

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.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

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?

[Bridget Phillipson]

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.