Speeches by Dalton.

“Neighbourhood health services are important, and I have been talking a lot about them since we launched the 10-year plan. It is not a thing or a building; it is services. It is about making sure that people have access to their health services as close as possible to their home or community. In some instances, that mig…”

“There really is an appetite for a shared outcomes framework, specifically, as you have identified, to integrate health, education and social care. The Best Start in Life strategy commits to exploring that. It is also worth pointing out that, separately, MHCLG are engaging with the local government sector on a draft loc…”

“The pilot activity, as you know, is under way, testing how that single unique identifier can be implemented effectively. I will hand over to Susie because that is firmly in the DFE’s remit.”

“I’m trying to answer the question. The new Best Start in Life website provides parents with everything they need, from conception and right through, and we retain that focus on nought to twos, particularly in working on speech and language facilities and ensuring that they are available from an early age. We know that …”

“Whether that is specifically in the workforce plan, I cannot tell you. It is around professional development, recruitment and retention. Supporting those clinicians who people face on a more regular basis, so they are able to spot and signpost people for a variety of issues, is certainly something that we are looking t…”

“What Liz has identified is that we have put that service into the family hubs and Start for Life programme. We have identified that, and provided that initial support through that programme. We can do a little bit more work—and I am happy to come back to the Committee on this—to look at how we dovetail that with the wi…”

“We know that maintaining that focus is essential and we are prioritising the quality support during that formative period—”

“It is down to ICBs to decide how they allocate the funding that is provided to them and what is appropriate for their local communities. I think it is really important that, as we delegate that decision making to local areas—whether to ICBs or to local authorities through the public health grant—they do that. I am more…”

“In terms of maternal support, you will know that we have launched the independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. The investigation is going to make clear sets of national recommendations by December this year to achieve high-quality, safe care right across maternity and neonatal servic…”

“Since the launch of family hubs and the Start for Life programme, family hubs have offered support to families of children of all ages, but we maintain a focus on what we call the 1,001 days, actually, which is from conception to the age of two. That remains important. We have that continued focus from conception to ag…”

“We are aware of some systemic issues with maternity and neonatal care, and we are making sure that we are providing high-quality, safe care and that all women and families are listened to. That includes post-natal care, including support for mental health. We know that many women and babies do receive excellent care, b…”

“We have laid out our 10-year plan for health, and part of that includes shifting from sickness to prevention, so that where possible, where we can prevent the need for acute services, we want to be able to do that by changing the environment and supporting people to make some of those healthier choices where appropriat…”

“Yes—and we are not waiting for the workforce plan on this, either. We are taking action now to increase the pipeline of speech and language therapists, and the NHS is supporting an increased number of students recruited on to the three-year degree programme. Numbers have increased: there were 817 in 2019 and now 1,434 …”

“The workforce plan will focus specifically on recruitment, retention and professional development. Rolling out services, referrals and access to services is part and parcel of the roll-out of the 10-year plan for health and the family hubs and Start for Life programme. The neighbourhood health services and the Best Sta…”

“Yes. This is the beginning of our ambition to deliver the healthiest generation of children ever. As I said, this is a decade of renewal. We have identified the beginnings of that following the recent spending review. We have also put in place, from the Department of Health and Social Care, our key commitment in our 10…”

“As you are aware, in July, we announced a £500 million investment to roll out Best Start family hubs nationally. As you identified, 1,000 hubs will be created across the country by the end of 2028. That is specifically the Best Start in Life family hubs. This is the beginning of a decade of renewal, which we have discu…”

“What we have touched on already is the way that the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme will be able to identify those needs by working in partnership with health visitors, joining up all those services and signposting where appropriate. We have covered that in the conversations we have already had about speech an…”

“Yes. What is right for Blackpool might not necessarily be right for Basingstoke. That is why we have ICBs. Of course a lot of health visitor services are rolled out and delivered by local authorities, and we support them to do that through our public health grant. They are responding to community need, and that will be…”

“Well, it is up to those local areas to identify what is required. I think everybody would agree that, where there are activities or services that do not need that high level of clinical expertise, a multidisciplinary team working together might very well be an appropriate way for those communities to roll out those ser…”

“What is highlighted by the example of Blackpool is local areas identifying what is needed in their communities and being innovative and creative about how they deliver that. One model will not be the only model for everywhere; it will depend on the needs of the community. We encourage commissioners—local authorities an…”