Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS Business Services Authority is taking to ensure independent shopkeepers and convenience store staff (a) are aware of NHS Healthy Start cards and (b) enable all eligible families to use their cards in these stores.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), who delivers the scheme on behalf of the Department, has created a public toolkit specifically for retailers, inclusive of independent shopkeepers and convenience store staff, to help them promote the scheme to shoppers.

The toolkit is regularly updated and contains a range of materials, including point of sale stickers, posters, banners, digital screens, and social media content featuring “shop with your NHS Healthy Start card here” messaging, and has so far received more than 2,000 views. Retailers can also find out more about the scheme and how it works on the NHSBSA website, at the following link:

https://media.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/media-library/63e8e5ac-3f5f-4c00-a626-27f4accd7fdd/guide-for-retailers-nhs-healthy-start-03-26

Retailers can also sign up for regular stakeholder newsletters.

The Department continues to work with the NHSBSA on ways to encourage those eligible to apply for the Healthy Start Scheme to apply.