Reflections from the Health and Social Care Committee visit to Blackpool Better Start

Claire Dunne, Senior Research and Development Manager at the National Children’s Bureau, highlights how A Better Start is influencing a new inquiry into the first 1000 days of a child’s life.

Last month, I had the chance to join the Health and Social Care Committee for their visit to Blackpool Better Start as part of the inquiry into The First 1000 Days: a renewed focus. It was a fantastic opportunity to see Blackpool Better Start showcase their integrated, place-based approach to building systems around families and creating a shared vision at all levels, locally and nationally, to improve the lives of babies and young children.

Throughout the day, MPs met with local parents, early years practitioners, senior NHS leaders, local government, and the voluntary sector. They wanted to see, and hear, the work that is happening and some of the challenges for babies, young children, and their families. One of the most significant moments was when the committee dropped in to a Ready Steady School session at one of Blackpool’s Family Hubs; they had the chance to hear from the most important stakeholders: babies and young children.

The committee recognises the importance of the first 1000 days of life as a critical period for child development, shaping long-term health, well-being and life outcomes. By launching this new inquiry, the committee are examining what progress has been made since 2019, and how effective Family Hubs and integrated care systems (ICSs) have been in improving early childhood outcomes and how inequalities in access can be most improved.

The conversations throughout the day were refreshingly grounded in community and family realities. The ABS team and local council members spoke about the unique challenges in the town:

• high levels of transience mean that some primary school classes see turnover of up to 60% in a year
• there are many asylum-seeking families who have been housed for years in local hotels, a solution intended to be temporary which has become semi-permanent
• against this backdrop, the ABS partnership is showing what it means to work with communities, not just for them

Collaboration, trust and relationships

Parent voice and community planning have been embedded through the early years system by Blackpool Better Start. Parent panels have brought the critical voices of parents and carers to the table, offering them the opportunity to influence decisions about services that shape their children’s earliest years. Parent panels aren’t a nice-to-have, they are an integral part of the decision-making process. Developing and embedding a collaborative approach is essential in communities where trust in, or knowledge of, statutory services may be fragile.

Throughout the day, one of the key mechanisms for change in Blackpool became clear: relationships. Family Hubs here are designed to be universally welcoming. They are open to every family, without judgment, while providing targeted support where it’s most needed. In communities where disadvantage can be entrenched, that inclusivity is essential.

Sustainability

One question the committee repeatedly asked was how this model could be sustained? In other words, what happens when the funding runs out?

The answer was clear: to continue this essential work and to effectively support the Government’s Best Start in Life Strategy, the planned investment in family hubs, and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, continued long-term funding is essential.

Short-term funding cycles create uncertainty and don’t allow the necessary foundations to be laid. To build. sustain and expand a system which works to support children from birth and responds to their needs over their first 1000 days and beyond, collaboration with families and practitioners is essential. Devolved, place-based and long-term commissioning is vital to meaningful change.

Throughout the day, committee members were engaged, they asked meaningful questions, listened to experts’ responses, and witnessed good practice in action. Now is the time to act. The Health and Social Care Select Committee has the opportunity to support decision making at the highest level to ensure the Blackpool Better Start model of systems change is embedded and financed long-term, nationally. This will support every child, no matter where they’re born, to get the best possible start in life.

About A Better Start

A Better Start is a ten-year project set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.

Five A Better Start partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend are supporting families to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life. Working with local parents, the A Better Start partnerships are developing and testing ways to improve their children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.

The National Children’s Bureau is coordinating an ambitious programme of shared learning for A Better Start, disseminating the partnerships’ experiences in creating innovative services far and wide, so that others working in early childhood development or place-based systems change can benefit.

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