"I remind the House that this is a time-limited debate. Any extra time Members take will be taken off the Front-Bench response...." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I recognise the noble Lord’s real commitment in this area and his work over the years. I stress that there are good examples of hubs providing support for families with teenagers, such as in Coventry, where over 400 young people were brought together with 65 partner organisations to facilitate access …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, we are investing over £900 million in the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies programmes, with an ambition for 1,000 hubs by 2028. New guidance published on 30 March outlines delivery expectations. While there will be a focus on pregnancy and the early years, hubs will welcome …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I probably do not have enough time in my short answer to go into all the initiatives, but I assure noble Lords that every Best Start Family Hub will have a Best Start inclusion practitioner. An enormous amount of resource is going into making sure that the training is there …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I am tempted to answer with a simple and straight yes. My noble friend speaks absolute sense on this agenda. I want to highlight the devastation to provision that she outlines: between 2010 and 2022, 1,300 Sure Start centres closed; by 2024, one in three low-income families had no access …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"The noble Lord raises an important point. That is why the programme is committed to initially providing a hub within every local authority, expanding over the next two years to 1,000 hubs opening, recognising the diversity of need and that local areas will want to move the programme forward. There …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I am delighted to hear the noble Lord reference Ann and the brilliant work that has been done for many years. The whole principle of Sure Start was the universal approach, bringing together all sorts of people and not focusing on just one sector. Everyone needs support at different stages …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"Improved reporting is a mission for all of us, but most of all it is important to collect the data, as the noble Baroness suggests, and make sure that we use it. Running alongside the family hub model is the Youth Matters programme. Most important in this agenda is making …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I am happy to have a discussion with my noble friend but caution that family hubs will be working with all those who care for children and young people, including fathers. We have to make sure that the environment in those hubs is supportive and picks up on all the …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I congratulate the noble Baroness on taking the opportunity to bring one of her passions into this broader debate. We understand the problems, and other departments are picking that up and taking it forward. I would not like to comment further at this stage...." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech