During the first evidence session of a rebooted inquiry into the first 1,000 days of life this week, Labour members of the Health and Social Care Committee repeatedly sought to pinpoint Leadsom’s stance on austerity-related defunding of the Blairite government’s flagship policy.
The programme has in recent years been shown to have led to positive health and education outcomes for children who lived near centres that opened between 1999 and 2003 in highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
MP Josh Fenton-Glynn repeatedly asked if she had “regrets” over the closure of more than 1,300 Sure Start centres after the Conservatives took power in 2010 – with just over 2,000 estimated to be remaining last year.
Giving evidence in connection with the Early Years Healthy Development Review that she led in 2020-21 and the resulting development of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme Leadsom earlier said she was “passionate” about the support provided by Sure Start, adding that the hubs are building on Sure Start's success.
The programme has funded 400 hubs across the country, aimed at providing support for families with children aged from 0-19 and while Leadsom is ambitious for its impact, she admitted that implementation of her vision has been patchy.
Stifled laughter could be heard as Alex McIntyre MP joked: “I’m conscious that obviously my colleague Josh tried to ask this question a couple of times and you gave for new MPs a brilliant example of how not to answer a difficult question when quizzed by a committee.
“You’re clearly very passionate about this area but we heard in the previous panel that health inequalities for young people massively increased between 2010 and 2020.
“Do you have any regrets that the funding for Sure Start centres was cut by two thirds during that time?”
Leadsom replied: “I have always been passionate about the 1001 critical days.
“I would always advocate for much better support for families during that crucial period because at the end of the day the state isn’t raising children it’s not raising the next generation but the babies born today will be governing out country.
“For me it’s not should you spend x amount or y amount…it’s about outcomes.”
Fenton-Glynn responded: “Obviously, we do have evidence that between 2010 and 2024 the outcomes got worse, so very quickly do you think that’s something that the last government could have got better?"
Leadsom replied: “I’m really pleased that we introduced the vision for the 1001 critical days I’ve been very clear about that…
“Of course any government can get things better, always. From my first time in politics I used to sit with Dame Tessa Jowell and talk to her about how we could improve on Sure Start and outcomes for babies. This is a cross-party agenda and I really hope it continues to be – forever.”
A statement from the committee highlights how children in the UK now have some of the worst health outcomes in Europe, with a fifth of children aged five classified as overweight or obese, the majority of childhood vaccination rates falling below the World Health Organisation’s recommended levels and a 250% increase in the prevalence of life limiting and life-threatening conditions in children and young people from 2001-18.
Despite many lifelong health issues being established in childhood and adolescence, a key element of the Government’s health mission, the NHS 10-year health plan, is framed around adults’ health needs.
Leadsom highlighted the "laser intervention" of hubs as being the use of antenatal checks to draw families in for a range of support, including midwifery, health visiting, breast feeding and parent-infant relationship teams, parenting and financial advice.
Alongside this, the "destigmatising" effect of having universal services is "absolutely crucial for the success of the family hubs", she explained, adding: "So if you like the formula is there – the family hub and start for life programme guide – that sets out how you could achieve cross Whitehall cross local authority working that would deliver better outcomes.
"And if you look at different local authorities, some are doing it really well and others just aren’t."
Asked by Fenton-Glynn whether this was a failure by local authorities' or cross-governmental working, Leadsom replied that the merger of the Department of Health and Social Care with NHS England "is going to remove some of the barriers", adding: "However, I don’t want to point fingers of blame but I think local authorities really now have the opportunity to really do that join up at local level.
"What that means for them is they need to join up midwives with health visitors."
She remarked that she was "really pleased" that the current government has kept the minister for start for life role, but urged a cabinet member role to be created for the 1001 critical days, adding that it is "such a cross-departmental issue that I think at cabinet level there should be representation".
