Cabinet to hear why giving best start to life matters

Article date: December 12th 2024

Cabinet will next week hear about the public health annual report, which this year is called The Best Start in Life and focuses on the steps the council is taking to support children and their families and the challenges the borough faces to provide children with that vital help and support.

The report states: "Inequalities exist in the opportunities and resources available to children, with over half of 0-5-year-olds in St Helens living in areas within the two most deprived quintiles. Inequalities can impact everything from health, academic attainment, and wellbeing, but this is not inevitable. We have the power to support these children to change the trajectory of their lives, and it is vital that we take action to do so."

Family Hubs have been able to provide targeted support for families, acting as a one-stop-shop for parents and carers for a range of services such as mental health, infant feeding, speech and language development and much more.

The report also highlights the importance of why focusing on giving the best start in life, and building young people's self-esteem is a vital part of not just public health work but also all work the council does through explaining why, what, where, when and how:

· Why - because when children and families are supported by evidence based national and local policy, lives improve, and we want our children to thrive. We need to tackle poverty and inequality.

· What - we need to provide opportunities and resources, and improve self-esteem; we need to support families, focus on child development and do community empowerment.

· Where - by putting more services in place in the communities that need them more and by making services accessible.

· When - we need to continue to invest in the first 1001 and support to help children to be school ready.

· How - we need to tackle stigma, use evidence-based approaches, and support staff through high quality supervision.

Cabinet will hear more on the findings from the annual report at its meeting on Wednesday, 19^th December at 4pm.