Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of Best Start Family Hubs on (a) children’s development and (b) educational outcomes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive, are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
As part of the ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ publication, the department announced that each best start family hub will have a children and family services professional specifically trained in working to support parents of children with additional needs. This will help identify and support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who may need extra help early on, making links with local early years settings and health services.
Evidence suggests that early intervention through integrated family support services can boost early special educational needs (SEN) identification and academic performance. The Institute of Fiscal Studies published a study in May 2025, on the short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start, which best start family hubs will draw lessons from. This revealed Sure Start programmes significantly improved educational achievements of children up to age 16 and reduced the likelihood of children of ages 7 to 16 having a SEN support plan.
Speech, language and communication remain a core focus of home learning environment support, and the remit has broadened to enable a more holistic approach to early development. Several local authorities have introduced play co-ordinators in family hubs, trained to identify speech and language delays and support parents in promoting development at home.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Best Start Family Hubs on the early identification of SEN amongst children.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive, are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
As part of the ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ publication, the department announced that each best start family hub will have a children and family services professional specifically trained in working to support parents of children with additional needs. This will help identify and support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who may need extra help early on, making links with local early years settings and health services.
Evidence suggests that early intervention through integrated family support services can boost early special educational needs (SEN) identification and academic performance. The Institute of Fiscal Studies published a study in May 2025, on the short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start, which best start family hubs will draw lessons from. This revealed Sure Start programmes significantly improved educational achievements of children up to age 16 and reduced the likelihood of children of ages 7 to 16 having a SEN support plan.
Speech, language and communication remain a core focus of home learning environment support, and the remit has broadened to enable a more holistic approach to early development. Several local authorities have introduced play co-ordinators in family hubs, trained to identify speech and language delays and support parents in promoting development at home.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many former Sure Start children’s centres have (a) closed and (b) reduced services so that they no longer meet the statutory criteria of a children’s centre since 2011.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life, the chance to achieve and to thrive, are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
Data on the number of Sure Start children’s centres is supplied by local authorities via the department’s Get Information about Schools database portal, which can be accessed here: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Based on information supplied by local authorities, 779 children’s centres have closed since 2011. Local authorities have converted a further 686 children’s centres into ‘children’s centre linked sites’. These are formerly children's centres in their own right, but they no longer meet the statutory definition of a children’s centre. They offer some early childhood services on behalf of another children's centre.
These figures are based on information supplied by local authorities as at 2 September 2025. These figures could change again in future, since local authorities may update the database at any time.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to ringfence funding associated with the (a) establishment and (b) operation of new Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life, the chance to achieve and to thrive, is the cornerstone of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
The funding mechanism for Best Start Family Hubs will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) areas of rural poverty and (b) areas with concentrated pockets of deprivation can access new Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Best Start Family Hubs will prioritise delivery in areas of disadvantage, where families face the greatest barriers to support. The department will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities can access it. These hubs will be open to all families to ensure services are both inclusive and targeted. As of March 2025, there are over 600 Family Hubs across the 88 currently funded local authorities, with up to 1000 hubs expected across the country by the end of 2028.
We will provide funding to every local authority in England through the Best Start Family Hubs programme, to make sure that no parent needs to face the challenges of parenthood alone. This will include more funding to local authorities to deliver greater outreach to make sure no one misses out.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that new Best Start Family Hubs will effectively (a) target and (b) reach out to the most disadvantaged families.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Best Start Family Hubs will prioritise delivery in areas of disadvantage, where families face the greatest barriers to support. The department will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities can access it. These hubs will be open to all families to ensure services are both inclusive and targeted. As of March 2025, there are over 600 Family Hubs across the 88 currently funded local authorities, with up to 1000 hubs expected across the country by the end of 2028.
We will provide funding to every local authority in England through the Best Start Family Hubs programme, to make sure that no parent needs to face the challenges of parenthood alone. This will include more funding to local authorities to deliver greater outreach to make sure no one misses out.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children from deprived communities will be able to access a new Best Start Family Hub by the end of the Parliament.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Best Start Family Hubs will prioritise delivery in areas of disadvantage, where families face the greatest barriers to support. The department will fund Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority to ensure that children and families who need support the most, especially those from low-income backgrounds or with additional vulnerabilities can access it. These hubs will be open to all families to ensure services are both inclusive and targeted. As of March 2025, there are over 600 Family Hubs across the 88 currently funded local authorities, with up to 1000 hubs expected across the country by the end of 2028.
We will provide funding to every local authority in England through the Best Start Family Hubs programme, to make sure that no parent needs to face the challenges of parenthood alone. This will include more funding to local authorities to deliver greater outreach to make sure no one misses out.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered commissioning (a) medium- and (b) long-term studies to monitor the effectiveness of Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and to thrive are the foundation stones of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
Monitoring and evaluation will be a crucial component of the programme from the beginning. Planning is ongoing, but we expect it to include continue robust monitoring and evaluation.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of enrichment activities on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department, working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has committed to publishing a new enrichment framework by the end of 2025. The framework is being developed alongside a working group consisting of experts from schools, youth, sports, arts and research organisations, to identify and reflect effective practice in schools.
The working group will consider how the framework can support equal access and support all pupils to engage with a school’s offer. The department expects the framework to set out benchmarks for high quality enrichment offers and to provide advice for schools on how to plan their offer strategically and intentionally. The framework is still in development, and we are considering all evidence, including examples of what works for a range of different schools.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including a national enrichment guarantee in the enrichment framework.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department, working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has committed to publishing a new enrichment framework by the end of 2025. The framework is being developed alongside a working group consisting of experts from schools, youth, sports, arts and research organisations, to identify and reflect effective practice in schools.
The working group will consider how the framework can support equal access and support all pupils to engage with a school’s offer. The department expects the framework to set out benchmarks for high quality enrichment offers and to provide advice for schools on how to plan their offer strategically and intentionally. The framework is still in development, and we are considering all evidence, including examples of what works for a range of different schools.