A new parliamentary inquiry into the importance of the first 1,000 days of a child’s life must be more than a “paper exercise”, health visitors have warned.
The Health and Social Care Committee, which is made up of a cross-party group of MPs, has launched a fresh probe looking at the crucial period from a child’s conception to age two.
“The message is clearly not getting through to those with the power to drive real change”
Alison Morton
This first 1,000 days is widely recognised as being a critical time that will affect the child’s health, wellbeing and life outcomes in the long term.
In 2019, the Health and Social Care Committee that was in place at that time published a report on the same topic and found significant variation in provision for families in the first 1,000 days.
Among the issues it raised were concerns about a shortage of health visitors and families getting too few visits from these specialist public health nurses.
Now, the current Health and Social Care Committee – chaired by Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran – has chosen to revisit the subject.
The new inquiry – The First 1,000 Days: a renewed focus – will examine the current state of play for families with young children and whether any progress has been made on the issues raised in the 2019 report.
In particular, it wants to look at whether the introduction of family hubs and integrated care systems has affected outcomes.
Family hubs were announced in 2021 as part of the then-Conservative government’s Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days report.
They aim to provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ of support services for families with children aged 0-19, or up to 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The new inquiry comes as the current Labour government, elected last year, has pledged to “create the healthiest generation of children ever”.
Health visitors are key professionals delivering services in the first 1,000 days as, by law, families should be offered five health visiting reviews before their child reaches two-and-a-half.
However, since 2019, there have been continued issues affecting health visitors including workforce and demand challenges.
Responding to the new inquiry, Alison Morton, chief executive of the Institute of Health Visiting, said: “We have more evidence than any other generation on the importance of the earliest years of life in shaping health, wellbeing and success across the life-course.
“We want to renew political focus on this vital period in a child’s life”
Layla Moran
“Yet, this plethora of global evidence has still not been translated into action to meet the scale of need experienced by our nation’s babies and young children.
“The message is clearly not getting through to those with the power to drive real change.
“We therefore welcome this inquiry and hope that it is more than a paper exercise – it needs to tip the balance and drive change in the heart of government to prioritise the first 1,000 days.”
Alison Morton
She said she expected the inquiry to show that babies and young children had been “badly let down” by “piecemeal policies” that have worsened outcomes rather than improved them.
“We cannot tinker at the edges any longer – our nation’s babies and young children who cannot speak are looking to the adults to act now,” warned Ms Morton.
Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, Ms Moran, agreed that there was now “overwhelming and unambiguous evidence” on the importance of the first 1,000 days.
“It is the importance of this short but critical time in a child’s life that is the reason why our committee has chosen to focus our attention on it in our new inquiry,” she said.
“We want to renew political focus on this vital period in a child’s life.”
The committee has launched a call for evidence for the inquiry and Ms Moran said it wanted to hear from early years health professionals as well as parents and others.
The inquiry will be focused on the situation in England, but the committee said it would welcome evidence from the whole of the UK.
More on the first 1,000 days
