It is within this context that Andrea Leadsom MP’s review of early child health should be seen. The review proposes the creation of family hubs – easily accessible centres that cater for a wide range of health and care needs for young children and their families, including support to access benefits and employment. These are not new – for the past few years, councils and charities such as Barnardo’s have been turning larger children’s centres into the hubs Leadsom describes.
It is a process driven by a 40 per cent cut in council spending on children’s centres since 2015 due to wider funding pressures that has resulted in the closure of 500 sites according to a 2019 Institute of Fiscal Studies report, with hundreds more reducing services.
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