Reports

This review was conducted to improve ‘the health and development outcomes for babies in England.’ The central theme of the review centres on ensuring that critical support is provided for babies and parents in the first 1001 days after birth, as this time period is when ‘the building blocks for lifelong emotional and physical health are laid down.’ Support in the 1001 days must be improved to provide 0-2 year olds with the best ‘Start for Life’ and so support services must be easily accessible, joined-up and committed to by volunteers, early years’ charities and professionals alike. Six recommendations called ‘action areas’ are laid out to increase families’ access to needed services and to better connect any current community services available for families. Importantly, the review champions the family hubs model, recommending its expansion, as a welcoming place for families to access Start for Life services.

The aim of this review, commissioned from the EIF by the Department for Education, is to understand contemporary local practice in children’s centres and family hubs and explore how far this and existing research can guide future development. Key messages include the need to be clear about what a local area is seeking to achieve through its early childhood services and then design them in a way likely to achieve this purpose; the importance of sharing local practice and experimentation as there is a strong appetite for peer-to-peer learning opportunities; and an emphasis on effective local planning and implementation. 

This report highlights unfinished business from the landmark Children Act 1989 and brings together key voices over recent years all focused on finding better ways to achieve good co-parenting between separated parents. It emphasises that many of the 40% of separating parents who turn to the Family Court instead of making decisions between themselves about their children, have relationship issues rather than legal issues. Family Hubs are key access points where they can receive the relational help they need and ease pressure on the courts.

This report sets out ‘a series of proposals to sustain the community spirit we have seen during the coronavirus pandemic.’ It asserts that a new era, which is now beginning, of economic and social policy must address the UK’s regional and social inequality by ‘putting communities at the heart of policy making.’  It also sets out proposals for a new social covenant that centres on a vision for a more local, more human, less bureaucratic, less centralised society in which people are supported and empowered to play an active role in their neighbourhoods. 

The Children’s Commissioner highlights the need for a national infrastructure of Family Hubs delivering against an agreed outcomes framework, to transform early years’ provision and be a ‘centre point of support for children and families…the gateway to multiple services’. The teams within them would be ‘responsible for coordinating early years services and support across the local area, to ensure all children who need help get it.’

In January 2019, the then Defence Secretary, The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP, commissioned Andrew Selous MP to conduct an independent review to consider the diverse needs of Service families, assess whether the current support offer is meeting these needs, and make recommendations accordingly. The focus of this review was on currently Serving personnel, including those preparing to leave the Armed Forces, and their families. Key themes emerged during the review about the challenges experienced by military families today which are regarded as detrimental to modern family life and relationships. These include accommodation; mobility; deployment; impact of Service life on military children and young people; employment and careers of spouses/partners; health and well-being of Serving personnel and family members; and the impact of Service life on personal relationships.