Alex Baker MP has today published a report for Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MP, setting out eight recommendations to ensure military families get the best from the Government’s new Best Start Family Hubs.
As the MP for the Home of the British Army, Alex launched a consultation exercise with military families when the government confirmed its plans to establish 1,000 Best Start Hubs across the country by 2028. The Hubs will act as one-stop shops, providing early support for families with children, building on the success of Sure Start centres. Research shows that Sure Start not only improved health outcomes, but also helped thousands of children achieve better GCSE results.
From her work with service families based in and around Aldershot Garrison and across the country, Alex has gained a unique insight into the challenges faced by the Armed Forces community. Frequent moves, deployments, separations and the pressures of military service can make it harder to access consistent support with health, social care and education.
As a passionate advocate for the Armed Forces Covenant, Alex has been determined to ensure public services offer fair treatment for the military community, including veterans, cadets and reservists as well as serving personnel. She has been backing the Government’s drive to enshrine the Covenant into law so that every Government department considers the needs of the Armed Forces community when shaping new policy.
She, therefore, initiated a series of meetings with organisations representing military families and launched a national survey to hear directly from the families of soldiers, sailors and aircrew about the specific support they need from Best Start Family Hubs.
Alex said:
“Best Start Family Hubs are an incredibly exciting prospect, but I am aware that military families can find services like these ill-equipped to meet their unique needs or to offer consistent support across the country.
“So, I have gathered the experiences of parents in service families and compiled a series of recommendations to make sure that the Best Start Hubs recognise the additional challenges these families face and are able to meet their needs.
“It’s vitally important for the nation that we ensure that health, social care and education work together so that children from military families genuinely do get the very best start in life.”
Alex’s report, entitled Forces Families deserve the Best Start, makes eight practical recommendations to the Department for Education, ranging from simple measures to identify military families, to embedding trusted military charities and peer-led support within the Hubs.
Alex will meet the Education Secretary in October to discuss the recommendations directly.
