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 implications for her policies of the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies entitled The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children’s outcomes, published on 22 May 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies entitled ‘The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children's outcomes’ highlights the powerful, long-term impact of strengthened early years support and shows the difference that integrated, evidence-based services can make to children’s lives. The research showed that access to Sure Start in early life generated widespread, long-lasting benefits, improving children’s health and educational outcomes and reducing the prevalence of identified special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
As our new publication ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, published 7 July 2025, sets out, we are making a significant investment of over half a billion pounds over the 2026/29 spending review period that will build back crucial family services and provide high-quality support to parents and children from pregnancy to age five. Proposals include:
More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life.
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 Sure Start children's centres on the proportion of children receiving SEND support from an early age.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies entitled ‘The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children's outcomes’ highlights the powerful, long-term impact of strengthened early years support and shows the difference that integrated, evidence-based services can make to children’s lives. The research showed that access to Sure Start in early life generated widespread, long-lasting benefits, improving children’s health and educational outcomes and reducing the prevalence of identified special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
As our new publication ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, published 7 July 2025, sets out, we are making a significant investment of over half a billion pounds over the 2026/29 spending review period that will build back crucial family services and provide high-quality support to parents and children from pregnancy to age five. Proposals include:
More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on what criteria she plans to allocate funding for the new Best Start Family Hubs; and whether this differs from the criteria for the Hubs and Start for Life Programme 2022.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities were pre-selected in rank order using Income Deprivation Affecting Children Indices Average Rank, ensuring a minimum of 25% of local authorities from each Office for National Statistics rural urban classification have been pre-selected for Family Hubs and Start for Life funding.
One in three disadvantaged children live in authorities which currently receive no programme funding. This is why on 7 July 2025, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’. This outlines our commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority. The department will provide a start-up grant to local authorities currently receiving no programme funding this year, before full expansion of Best Start Hubs begins from April 2026.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Hubs and Start for Life Programme 2022, what criteria was used to allocate funding to establish new Family Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local authorities were pre-selected in rank order using Income Deprivation Affecting Children Indices Average Rank, ensuring a minimum of 25% of local authorities from each Office for National Statistics rural urban classification have been pre-selected for Family Hubs and Start for Life funding.
One in three disadvantaged children live in authorities which currently receive no programme funding. This is why on 7 July 2025, the government published ‘Giving every child the Best Start in Life’. This outlines our commitment to deliver a new Best Start Family Service to bring together parenting, healthcare and education support services, as well as creating and funding Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority. The department will provide a start-up grant to local authorities currently receiving no programme funding this year, before full expansion of Best Start Hubs begins from April 2026.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report entitled, The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children’s outcomes, published in May 2025, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of Sure Start children's centres on children's levels of attainment.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies entitled ‘The short- and medium-term effects of Sure Start on children's outcomes’ highlights the powerful, long-term impact of strengthened early years support and shows the difference that integrated, evidence-based services can make to children’s lives. The research showed that access to Sure Start in early life generated widespread, long-lasting benefits, improving children’s health and educational outcomes and reducing the prevalence of identified special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
As our new publication ‘Giving every child the best start in life’, published 7 July 2025, sets out, we are making a significant investment of over half a billion pounds over the 2026/29 spending review period that will build back crucial family services and provide high-quality support to parents and children from pregnancy to age five. Proposals include:
More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/giving-every-child-the-best-start-in-life.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support research into the health needs of trans young people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In line with the findings of the recent Cass Review, the Government is committed to supporting the development of research that delivers a robust, evidence-based understanding of gender dysphoria and transgender issues, especially where these issues relate to children and young people. The programme of research includes investments in research capacity to enable National Health Service clinicians to dedicate time to research and ongoing service evaluation, and a living systematic review that will provide a regularly updated review of the latest international evidence to inform policy and frontline and clinical practice. These may produce new evidence to help safeguard and improve the health of children and young people who are questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.
The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research, welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including research into the health needs of young people. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) family hubs and (b) former Sure Start children centres are in operation in each council area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 25 January 2024, the government published a list of family hubs which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-family-hub-sites. 75 local authorities have received joint funding from the department and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. As of March 2025, there were 551 family hubs in these local authorities. A further 13 local authorities have received support through the department’s Family Hubs Transformation Fund. As of March 2025, there were 90 family hubs in these local authorities. The department does not routinely collect data on family hubs created by local authorities outside of these two programmes.
Data on children’s centres that are in operation is supplied by local authorities via the Get Information about Schools database. A list of children’s centres that are currently open is available to download at: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Downloads.
On 2 August 2023, the government published Family Hubs and Start for Life: section 31 grant determination letters. A link to the letters can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-section-31-grant-determination-letters. These letters set out the details of £301.75 million of funding for 75 upper-tier local authorities in England to deliver Start for Life and Family Hubs over three financial years between 2022 and 2025.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many existing Family Hubs received funding through the 2022 Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme scheme by council area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 25 January 2024, the government published a list of family hubs which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-family-hub-sites. 75 local authorities have received joint funding from the department and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. As of March 2025, there were 551 family hubs in these local authorities. A further 13 local authorities have received support through the department’s Family Hubs Transformation Fund. As of March 2025, there were 90 family hubs in these local authorities. The department does not routinely collect data on family hubs created by local authorities outside of these two programmes.
Data on children’s centres that are in operation is supplied by local authorities via the Get Information about Schools database. A list of children’s centres that are currently open is available to download at: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Downloads.
On 2 August 2023, the government published Family Hubs and Start for Life: section 31 grant determination letters. A link to the letters can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-section-31-grant-determination-letters. These letters set out the details of £301.75 million of funding for 75 upper-tier local authorities in England to deliver Start for Life and Family Hubs over three financial years between 2022 and 2025.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new Family Hubs were established by the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme scheme in 2022 by council area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 25 January 2024, the government published a list of family hubs which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-family-hub-sites. 75 local authorities have received joint funding from the department and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. As of March 2025, there were 551 family hubs in these local authorities. A further 13 local authorities have received support through the department’s Family Hubs Transformation Fund. As of March 2025, there were 90 family hubs in these local authorities. The department does not routinely collect data on family hubs created by local authorities outside of these two programmes.
Data on children’s centres that are in operation is supplied by local authorities via the Get Information about Schools database. A list of children’s centres that are currently open is available to download at: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Downloads.
On 2 August 2023, the government published Family Hubs and Start for Life: section 31 grant determination letters. A link to the letters can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-section-31-grant-determination-letters. These letters set out the details of £301.75 million of funding for 75 upper-tier local authorities in England to deliver Start for Life and Family Hubs over three financial years between 2022 and 2025.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria she will use to decide the (a) placement and (b) funding of Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ensuring every child has the best start in life and the chance to achieve and thrive is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission.
We will spend close to £1.5 billion over the next three years on improving family services and early years education to begin the hard work needed.
We 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 but will be located in disadvantaged communities where support is most needed. This ensures services are both inclusive and targeted.
The department will be providing guidance to local authorities in due course to support service delivery from April 2026.