Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his department is taking to progress the transformation of the UK Commando Force into a warfighting formation focused on the High North, including an increase in Royal Marine numbers deployed to the region.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Government is continuing to transform the UK Commando Force into a more agile, lethal and technology-enabled warfighting formation, optimised for operations in the Euro-Atlantic and High North alongside NATO Allies. The ÂŁ100 million announced for new transformative technologies is additional investment in the ongoing Commando Force Transformation programme and will fund, over four years, cutting-edge capabilities to support that transformation.
Final investment decisions will be made through programme prioritisation, informed by current programme success and lessons from ongoing conflicts all of which will strengthen the UK Commando Force’s ability to operate in the demanding High North environment.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance is issued to local authorities, Family Hubs and NHS services on delivering evidence-based parent–infant relationship support in the first 1,001 days following birth.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
We understand the importance of parent-infant relationships on a baby’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. That is why we are committed to improving parent-infant relationship support.
Through Healthy Babies, we are investing ÂŁ109 million in 75 local authorities in areas with high levels of deprivation to enhance parent-infant relationship support. In March 2026 we published guidance to local authorities setting out our expectations for how this funding should be used. The expectations have a particular focus on providing information and advice, building workforce capability and capacity, joining up support locally, as well as providing easy access to high quality, evidence-based services and support. The guidance also sets ambitions for those local authorities not receiving Healthy Babies funding to build the foundations for this provision where possible.
The Department has recently refreshed the Healthy Child Programme Guidance for practitioners, providers, and local authorities, which includes the importance of providing support in the transition to parenthood, including evidence-based parent-infant relationship support. Transition to parenthood is one of the six high impact areas for health visiting.
In addition, NHS England routinely identifies and disseminates best practice and learning across National Health Services and clinical networks to support local delivery of parent-infant relationship support.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department collects on outcomes for babies and parents receiving parent–infant relationship support in the first 1,001 days following birth.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
We understand the importance of parent-infant relationships on a baby’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. That is why we are committed to improving parent-infant relationship support.
Health visiting services provide parenting support to all families through the national Healthy Child Programme, funded through the Public Health Grant. This includes advice on parent-infant relationships as well as responsive parenting, infant behaviour, and wider support as needed. The Department is collecting the number of local authorities that provide parenting and behaviour services, with publication planned for Autumn 2026.
Through Healthy Babies, we are investing ÂŁ109 million to provide enhanced parent-infant relationship support in 75 local authorities areas with high levels of deprivation. Through our management information data, we know that in March 2025, there were 520 fully or partially funded parent-infant relationship and perinatal mental health services across the funded local authorities. Further information is available at the following link:
We are working to expand our data collection, and, from April 2026, we have been asking all 153 local authorities to report on services delivered through the Best Start Family Hub network.
We are also investing in independent evaluation of Healthy Babies to understand which interventions and delivery elements have an impact, for whom, and in what contexts.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department collects on the provision of parent–infant relationship support in the first 1,001 days following birth.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
We understand the importance of parent-infant relationships on a baby’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. That is why we are committed to improving parent-infant relationship support.
Health visiting services provide parenting support to all families through the national Healthy Child Programme, funded through the Public Health Grant. This includes advice on parent-infant relationships as well as responsive parenting, infant behaviour, and wider support as needed. The Department is collecting the number of local authorities that provide parenting and behaviour services, with publication planned for Autumn 2026.
Through Healthy Babies, we are investing ÂŁ109 million to provide enhanced parent-infant relationship support in 75 local authorities areas with high levels of deprivation. Through our management information data, we know that in March 2025, there were 520 fully or partially funded parent-infant relationship and perinatal mental health services across the funded local authorities. Further information is available at the following link:
We are working to expand our data collection, and, from April 2026, we have been asking all 153 local authorities to report on services delivered through the Best Start Family Hub network.
We are also investing in independent evaluation of Healthy Babies to understand which interventions and delivery elements have an impact, for whom, and in what contexts.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of variation between local authorities in the provision of parent–infant relationship support as part of the Healthy Child Programme and Family Hubs.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
We understand the importance of parent-infant relationships on a baby’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development. That is why we are committed to improving parent-infant relationship support.
Health visiting services provide parenting support to all families through the national Healthy Child Programme, funded through the Public Health Grant. This includes advice on parent-infant relationships as well as responsive parenting, infant behaviour, and wider support as needed. The Department is collecting the number of local authorities that provide parenting and behaviour services, with publication planned for Autumn 2026.
Through Healthy Babies, we are investing ÂŁ109 million to provide enhanced parent-infant relationship support in 75 local authorities areas with high levels of deprivation. Through our management information data, we know that in March 2025, there were 520 fully or partially funded parent-infant relationship and perinatal mental health services across the funded local authorities. Further information is available at the following link:
We are working to expand our data collection, and, from April 2026, we have been asking all 153 local authorities to report on services delivered through the Best Start Family Hub network.
We are also investing in independent evaluation of Healthy Babies to understand which interventions and delivery elements have an impact, for whom, and in what contexts.