Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to provide alternative sources of advice to support new parents in areas where there is a shortage of health visitors.

Local authorities (LAs) are responsible for commissioning appropriate services for zero-to-five year olds in their areas, including health visiting, and decisions should be based around local needs. Health Visitors (HV) and their teams work in close partnership with other local early years’ services to ensure new parents have the support and advice they require to enable their children have the best start in life. The mandation of the universal health reviews for children up to two and a half years of age, which are commissioned by LAs and provided by HV services, was renewed by the Government this year. The mandation sets out in regulation requirements that ensure that parents have the support they need at key stages of the child’s early development.