Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

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.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

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?

[Bridget Phillipson]

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.