Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the implementation of the Healthy Child Programme; and what recent meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had to discuss that Programme.

Nicola Blackwood

The responsibility for leadership of the Healthy Child Programme is with Public Health England (PHE).

The Healthy Child Programme is the Government’s framework that underpins PHE’s priority to give every child the best start in life. The Best Start in Life Board meets bimonthly, jointly chaired by PHE and a local authority Chief Executive. The Board has cross-government representation from the Department of Health, Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, and Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Department has commissioned PHE to undertake a review of the delivery of the universal elements of 0-5 services, mandated to local authorities, and will report later this year.