I had one chance to introduce a bill – I chose babies
4 min read
Coming first in the Private Members’ Bill ballot is a rare stroke of parliamentary good fortune.
It gives an MP one precious chance to put a cause before the House. Many admirable suggestions arrived. I chose those who cannot send us a briefing, organise a lobby or wait for politics to catch up. I chose babies.
The Infants, Parents and Carers Bill – known as the Babies Bill – focuses on the 1,001 critical days from pregnancy to age two. This is not simply another stage of childhood. A baby’s earliest experiences shape the adults we become and create the building blocks for lifelong emotional and physical wellbeing.
Loving, stable relationships and the right support can transform a life. But neither is a baby protected from harm simply because they are too young to understand it or later put it into words. Adversity can begin before birth, and high levels of stress in infancy impacts the developing brain and body, increasing the risk of difficulties that, without support, continue into adult life. This is a period of exceptionally rapid development, when foundations are laid for relationships, language, health, emotional security and learning.
In practice, that support is very human: a health visitor who notices that a family needs more help; timely infant-feeding advice; mental-health support during pregnancy or after birth; help when an early parent-infant relationship is under strain.
Most parents and carers will not need every service, but all should know where trusted help can be found.
Much of this support already exists through Best Start Family Hubs and the Healthy Babies programme. My bill is not about creating a costly parallel system. It is an attempt to secure and strengthen what is already being built.
If we truly value something, we must protect it. In my view, the best way of doing this is via legislation. Guidance can change. Priorities drift and budgets tighten. Support can gradually thin out, place by place, without Parliament taking a clear decision.
The Babies Bill is intended to provide a stronger legal foundation. It would provide for assessing the needs of babies and families, including those expecting a child; for appropriate information and services; and for annual reporting to Parliament.
In plain English, it asks three questions: What do babies and families need? Is the support there? And is it making a difference?
Babies are not a line in a Treasury spreadsheet
There is a powerful economic case for acting early. We already spend substantial sums responding after problems have become established, across health, education, social care, criminal justice and other public services. Earlier support can reduce the need for more costly intervention later.
But I did not choose this bill merely because prevention can cost less than repair. Babies are not a line in a Treasury spreadsheet. The moral case comes first: every baby deserves the best start in life, and parents and carers should be helped to give it.
The bill is deliberately focused. A Private Members’ Bill that attempts everything may achieve nothing. Its practical purpose: to give important information and support in the 1,001 critical days a more enduring legal foundation. That purpose should unite us. Babies are not party political. The bill builds on years of cross-party work, including the leadership shown by Dame Andrea Leadsom and the work now being taken forward by the 1001 Critical Days Foundation.
The bill’s Second Reading is scheduled for Friday 4 September. I hope MPs from every party will keep the date free, come to the Chamber and help it progress.
Parliament is accustomed to thinking in sessions, spending reviews and electoral cycles. A baby does not.
The 1,001 critical days pass quickly. We now have the chance to give the support around babies and their families a firmer, more accountable place in law. We should take it.
Desmond Swayne is Conservative MP for New Forest West
