"As my noble friend mentions, early years is a real priority for this Government, starting with our plan for change and a national target by 2028 to increase the proportion of children achieving a good level of development when starting school. We have followed this up with statutory targets for …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, we now know without doubt that Sure Start worked. It delivered twice as much in benefits as it cost, with positive impacts on health, SEND identification and educational outcomes. That is why the Government are investing over £500 million to rebuild crucial family services. Best Start Family Hubs …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"The commitment is to make sure that every local authority area has a family hub. Deprivation is one of the key factors in the programme. We want to make sure that all children benefit from the services on offer; it is down to local authorities to determine where their priorities …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"The noble Baroness touches on an important point: we need to build on the good things from the Sure Start model and the good things that came out of the family hub model, bring them together and analyse the way forward. On working with parents, the model has proved that …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I completely agree with the noble Lord. We recently had a whole Question devoted to the issue of toilet training and preparedness for life in school. Talking to reception teachers, I think that some of the examples they give are really disturbing. We have been through a very difficult time …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I believe that the Opposition now recognise that it was an enormous mistake to reduce the funding that went into Sure Start and family support. We are reaping the benefit of that decline in support. As one of the people on the front line in local authorities, I can tell …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"I think the noble Baroness references the value of the voluntary, community and faith sector. I reassure her that we are investing £2.25 million in five organisations to help with exactly the areas she is suggesting, to break down barriers and enable people to access services. We know from the …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My noble friend, as always, raises an important point. We have committed in the best start in life strategy to having a children and family services practitioner in each family hub to support children and families with additional needs. We recognise just how significant demand is this year, particularly for …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech
"My Lords, I am very aware of the repeated requests and comments. I come back again to the point that we have been making throughout the debates on these amendments, and throughout the process: until the parliamentary process is complete, we are making no assumptions as to what the delivery …..." Baroness Blake of Leeds - View Speech