The First 1000 Days: a renewed focus

Health and Social Care Committee Open Inquiry
Opened: 21 Mar 2025 Parliament page
The first 1000 days of life, from conception to age two, are widely recognised as a critical period for child development, shaping long-term health, well-being, and life outcomes.The previous Committee examined this period in its 2019 First 1000 days of life inquiryconsidering national strategy, current spending and barriers to investment … Read more
18 Recommendations
8 Conclusions
1 Report
4 Oral sessions
3 Letters
4 Events
Activity timeline 9 events
28 Apr
2026
Correspondence
22 Apr
2026
Report published
22 Jan
2026
Report published
15 Oct
2025
Correspondence
3 Sep
2025
Oral evidence
2 Jul
2025
Oral evidence
2 Jul
2025
Correspondence
4 Jun
2025
Oral evidence
7 May
2025
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 4 sessions
3 Sep 2025
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Oral Evidence
Ashley Dalton MP · Department of Health and Social Care Liz Ketch · Department of Health and Social Care Susie Owen · Department for Education
2 Jul 2025
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Oral Evidence
Anna Bird · Disabled Children's Partnership Dr Amit Aggarwal · Medical Affairs and Strategic Partnerships Dr Claire Fuller · NHS England Dr Doug Simkiss · Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Dr Helen Skirrow · Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London Dr Helen Stewart · The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Dr Sally Payne · Royal College of Occupational Therapists Jane Harris · Speech and Language UK Janet Cooper · Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
4 Jun 2025
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Oral Evidence
Alison Morton · Institute of Health Visiting Dr Christine Farquharson · Institute for Fiscal Studies Rachel Roberts · Hull City Council Rukshana Kapasi · Barnardos
7 May 2025
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Oral Evidence
Professor Sir Michael Marmot · University College London (UCL) Rt Hon Dame Andrea Leadsom DBE · Early Years Healthy Development Review
Title HC No. Published Items Response
5th Report - First 1000 days: a renewed focus HC 802 22 Jan 2026 26 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
4 results
Clear
2 Recommendation Accepted in Part
5th Report - First 1000 days: a re…
Set out plans to expand Family Hubs with sustained funding and issue guidance for 0-2 services.
We call on the Government to set out plans to further expand the network of Family Hubs to provide access to a Hub every community. This plan must be supported by sustained and ringfenced funding. Previous research on the benefits … Read more
Government Response
The government commits over £200 million over three years to strengthen the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) offer in Best Start Family Hubs and sets an ambition for 70% of hubs to be located in the 30% most deprived areas. However, it does not fully commit to expansion to 'every community' or sustained, ringfenced funding for the general network.
Department of Health and Social Care
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9 Recommendation Accepted in Part
5th Report - First 1000 days: a re…
Create plan to rebuild health visitor workforce and recruit at least 1000 additional staff.
The Government must create a specific plan to rebuild the health visitor workforce in its forthcoming NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. This plan must be informed by safe staffing tools to ensure that health visitors have a manageable workload. As … Read more
Government Response
The government confirmed the 10 Year Workforce Plan will include a phased delivery roadmap for health visiting services to address workforce pressures. However, they rejected committing to recruiting a specific number of new health visitors, stating it would not be responsible to fix precise workforce numbers a decade into the future.
Department of Health and Social Care
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14 Recommendation Accepted in Part
5th Report - First 1000 days: a re…
Create sustainable children's health workforce with specific recruitment targets in the NHS Plan.
The Government must take the opportunity presented by the forthcoming NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a sustainable and well-resourced children’s health workforce. While we understand the Government’s desire for the workforce plan to go beyond numbers, a plan … Read more
Government Response
The government states the 10-Year Workforce Plan will provide a sustainable approach with a phased delivery roadmap for relevant staff groups, including actions across recruitment, training, and retention. However, it rejects setting precise workforce numbers or specific recruitment targets a decade into the future, deeming it irresponsible due to evolving demands.
Department of Health and Social Care
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23 Recommendation Accepted in Part
5th Report - First 1000 days: a re…
Produce plans for disaggregated children's outcome data and introduce separate waiting time reports for under-twos.
We recommend that the Government work with all NHS and early-years settings to produce plans for greater disaggregated data concerning service delivery and outcomes for children. This should include data broken down by age group, as well as ethnicity, disability, … Read more
Government Response
The government stated work is underway to collect record-level demographic data for community services. However, they rejected publishing separate national reports on waiting times for children under two, though the data will be extractable, and noted no current plans for further national disaggregation of WLMDS data.
Department of Health and Social Care
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Government Response AI assessment · 26 of 18 classified
Accepted 6
Accepted in Part 4
Acknowledged 5
Deferred 2
Not Addressed 6
Rejected 3
Total 18 recs + 8 conclusions
Correspondence 3 letters
28 Apr 2026 Correspondence from Minister Hodgson - First 1000 Days Response
Parliament page
15 Oct 2025 Correspondence from Minister Dalton re First 1000 days evidence session
Parliament page
2 Jul 2025 Correspondence from Minister Daby re the First 1000 Days
Parliament page