Mum praises family hub in Peterborough for 'incredible' support
A mother said the support she received from a city's free family hub has made an "incredible" difference to her and her child.Four family hubs in Peterborough provide support for families with children from birth to age 19, offering parenting and family support, access to financial advice and learning through play sessions.Peterborough City Council has received a total of £1.3m from central government to continue running the hubs until April 2026.Anna, from Peterborough, who has been visiting the hub in Welland for more than a year, said: " [Without the hub] I wouldn't be able to pay for the groups we come to. By coming here my daughter is growing every day."
She added: "It's about being able to go somewhere and talk to someone, to get out of the house. "I did have anxiety and it has helped me to be better. To be brave."Staff at the family hubs in Peterborough delivered about 25,000 face-to-face sessions last year, an increase of 17.5 per cent on the previous year.
Mark Bowering, from Peterborough, has five children of different ages and attends the parenting classes at one the city's family hubs. He said it was important that the service remains free."Nowadays if people say something is going to cost you £10 or £20 people might say, 'I've got to buy food' or whatever, and it probably wouldn't happen. "Without these courses, I don't think [my] children would grow so well."
Tina and Chris have been bringing their grandson Hector to the hub for about two years.Chris said: "It's really helped his social skills, interacting with other children, learning how to share."Some parents here aren't well off and can't afford to take them to other places. "This place is a real plus for all the parents in the area, really beneficial."
Katy Cole, the cabinet member for children's services at Peterborough City Council, said: "I'm absolutely delighted that we've received funding to continue running the successful family hubs scheme, which is playing a key role in improving outcomes for children across Peterborough."
A spokesperson from the Department for Education said: "We're strengthening family services through continued investment in the family hubs and Start for Life programmes, which provide important support for families and babies."The first phase of the spending review delivers on the government's ambition to give all children the best start in life by increasing spending in England on early years and family services to over £8bn in 2025-26."
Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Spending Review: How much did schools, transport and the NHS get?
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced the government's Spending Review, which outlines the day-to-day budgets for departments over the next three review affects funding for public services such as the NHS, schools, housing, prisons and policing, as well as other areas, including transport and BBC correspondents analyse how key services have fared and what the decisions may mean for you. Money for schools, but lots to pay for There is money for England's schools - especially crumbling ones - as well as for training and upskilling. Those key takeaways are nestled among rehashed pledges like expanding free school meals and introducing free breakfast core schools budget will rise by £2bn in real terms by 2029, the Department for Education says, but much of it will go on those previous commitments. Falling pupil numbers means the department can make some savings, but that money still has to pay for an awful government is staring down the barrel of ever-growing demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support. The Spending Review does not seem to address deficits racked up by councils supporting those children, but it does appear to have set aside around £700m to reform the schools on the government's rebuilding programme - many still waiting for builders - will also be wondering if a £2.4bn annual cash injection will suffice. Will funding for NHS be enough? The 3% annual real-terms increase in NHS spending announced by the chancellor will look generous to departments with low or no number covers day-to-day spending by the NHS, for example staff pay and the costs of medicines and patients care. The overall annual increase for the Department of Health is 2.8%, which includes other areas like medicines regulation and pandemic preparedness, as well as the is worth pointing out that the health service needs real-term spending growth every year to cope with an increasing and ageing population alongside rising bills for medicines and new treatments. The long-term trend for annual UK health spending in recent decades has been around 3.5%.Aside from day-to-day funding there is also capital spending, which covers investment in buildings and equipment. The new allocation will be just 1% in real-terms per year. The big question is whether that will be enough to enable staff to deliver more operations and of Labour's pledges is to ensure more than 90% of patients in England start treatment within 18 weeks of referral. Currently it is less than 60%. Hitting that target is a big ask with all the other claims on spending. Transport upgrades won't come quickly "We are happy bunnies" is how someone from the Department for Transport reacted to the Spending investment in transport infrastructure is clearly central to Labour's plan for "national renewal", so a good chunk of the chancellor's speech was devoted to various upgrades. Some we already knew about, some we didn' include a new Liverpool to Manchester rail line, a freeze on the £3 cap on bus fares in England until March 2027 and more than £15.6bn on new trams, trains and buses outside of Conservatives say a lot of this is just rehashing of old announcements with little detail attached. The government says it will lay some meat on the bones of these plans next week in its so-called "infrastructure week".Apart from bus fares, which is a continuation of an existing policy, Reeves' plans are in keeping with the general theme of this Spending Review: ambitious but ultimately not materialising for quite some time - until the 2030s at the earliest. Seven ways the Spending Review affects youWhat has the chancellor has announced? The key pointsWatch: Where the money is being spent 'Game changer' for social housing You could almost hear the sigh of relief from social landlords when £39bn was announced for social and affordable housing. Many had warned that without significant funding and certainty, the government would never reach its target of building 1.5 million homes over this they've called Wednesday's announcement a "game changer". Guaranteeing how much social landlords will receive in rents over the next 10 years means that housing associations can plan how much they have to invest in charity Shelter called the investment a "watershed moment". The charity's head of policy, Charlie Trew, said the amount was 70% more than the previous government invested but it was still not enough to end homelessness for good. The charity called for a "clear target" for exactly how many social rent homes are planned. Police and border questions remain A 2.3% real terms yearly funding increase for policing in England and Wales is slightly better than senior officers had feared, but forces are already warning of "some ruthless prioritisation", arguing that most of the money will be "swallowed up" by police pay chancellor stressed that an increase of "more than £2bn" will mean government pledges on cutting crime and increasing police numbers can be immigration, there is more money for the Border Security Command, rising to £280m extra a year, with promises of new kit including an army of drones to improve surveillance. Reeves also promised that the use of hotels for asylum seekers would end by with overall Home Office spending being cut by 1.7% a year, there are knotted eyebrows at how this is all going to add up and be achieved while managing a sizeable squeeze to the department's budget. Prison money shows severity of crisis Just recently we were told that offenders recalled to prison would be let out earlier due to overcrowding. We know the government is planning on building three more prisons to deal with the capacity chancellor said £7bn would be spent on that building project - that's more than we were told earlier this month, when the figure stood at £ increase in funding indicates the severity and urgency of the problem. But building more prisons will take announced was £700m to reform the probation service - that cash will fund further recruitment on top of the 1,300 officers the government had already said it will employ this probation officers welcomed the investment but raised concerns about their "increasing workload" and when the new hires will be functional.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
NHS issues urgent warning to parents over shop-bought baby food
The NHS has issued an urgent warning about shop-bought baby food and is warning parents not to feed their babies ready-made food pouches. New guidance to mothers and fathers which states that newborns should only be given processed pouches, jars, trays and pots 'occasionally.' 'They should not be used as an everyday food,' the NHS stated on its Start For Life website and it is the first time the corporation has published guidance on commercial baby food. Instead, it recommends that infants be on a diet of homemade meals and no processed snacks, after research found that six leading baby food brands failed to meet a baby's nutritional needs. In the updated warning, the NHS also stated: 'Although food jars, pouches, trays and pots can be convenient, you should not rely on them as an everyday food. If you use them, only use them occasionally.' 'Preparing food at home is often healthier and cheaper than shop-bought food. Check out the list of ingredients above for inspiration.' It also says that parents should check food labels and choose the product with the least amount of sugar in it. For children aged 12 months and up, the NHS says you should swap out processed meals for simple mashed or finger foods. Try not to feed them shop-bought biscuits, rusks, biscotti, melty snacks and other packaged foods,' it also stated. 'They can contain a lot of sugar and your baby doesn't need them in their diet. 'Remember, your baby does not need salt or sugar added to their food or cooking water. Babies should not eat salt as it isn't good for their kidneys and sugar can cause tooth decay.' This comes after BBC Panorama tested brightly packaged products made by Ella's Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie, Aldi and Lidl for their nutritional value. As well as being low in iron, which is vital for an infant's development, some contained more sugar than a one-year-old should consume in a day – despite being marked as containing 'no added sugar'. Some products - including ones sold by Ella's Kitchen - contained more sugar than a one-year-old should have in a day. Government guidance states infants should have as little sugar as possible, and that a one-year-old child should have no more than 10g of free sugars a day. But laboratory testing of more than a dozen baby food pouches sold in UK supermarkets found some contained higher levels than those found in fizzy drinks. The investigation also found that nearly all the vitamin C in one fruit pouch had been lost during the manufacturing process. The alarming investigation also discovered most failed to even provide sufficient vitamin C or iron, essential nutrients infants need every day. Experts labelled the BBC probe, which was released in April, 'really concerning', arguing that 'no added sugar' statements on packaging may make parents think the products are healthier than they are. Doctors, dentists and other experts want ministers to ban products being sold with 'intentionally misleading' health claims. There are currently more than 250 baby food pouch products available in the UK - their convenience and long shelf lives have seen them become a staple for many households with young children. As part of the investigation, BBC Panorama commissioned a lab to independently test the nutritional value of a fruit, yogurt and savoury pouch from each of the four leading brands and two supermarkets. The highest 'free sugar' level found by the BBC was Ella's Kitchen's Bananas and Apples, which has 19.6g of sugar - equivalent to more than four teaspoons. Free sugars - those added to products - are released from fruit when it is pureed. Unlike eating fresh fruit, which is much better for a child, pureeing releases sugar from inside fruit cell walls and can be absorbed much more quickly. Yet Ella's Kitchen, as well as Lidl, Aldi, Piccolo and Heinz, label their products as containing 'no added sugar' despite the tests showing otherwise. Eating too much sugar over time can lead to weight gain and tooth decay. Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association (BDA), said hospitals had seen young children 'barely out of weaning' needing multiple tooth extractions because of tooth decay caused by their diets. He said: 'It's obviously not all down to these pouches. 'But clearly, regular use and feeding with these pouches with such high levels of sugar cause serious problems to the general health of children as they're growing up.' Experts say big brands surround their products with healthy-sounding words and phrases – known as 'halo marketing' – to trick parents. Ella's Kitchen, for example, describes savoury products as 'perfectly balanced for growing babies', while Piccolo claims many pouches are 'packed with goodness'. Some Little Freddie pouches are branded as 'Good for Brains' and Heinz claims some of its fruit products are 'as nutritionally good as homemade'. Dr Alison Tedstone, a former government chief nutritionist, said the nutritional claims of baby food pouches were 'misleading', adding: 'You think as a parent it is a healthy product, and it just isn't.' Market leader Ella's Kitchen agreed its products should be used sparingly, were not replacements for homemade meals and could cause health problems if used as children's main source of nutrition. The firm added that it would 'never, ever' put profit above the health of children. Lidl said it welcomed clear government guidelines, Little Freddie said it actively participated in policy consultations and Piccolo said it developed 'recipes that combine fruits with vegetables' to reduce sugar levels. Aldi said it would relabel its fruit pouches to reflect NHS guidance that babies should not be given solid food until the age of six months.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Adult obesity rates drop across Peterborough
The adult obesity rate in Peterborough has "dropped considerably", according to a new figures.A report to be put before Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's joint health and well-being board and Integrated Care Partnership shows the latest figures on child and adult obesity rates, and highlights what needs to be done going Cambridgeshire rate for adult obesity at 61.1% is slightly lower than the national rate, while Peterborough's rate (64%) has "dropped considerably" and is now equal to the national rate, it report will be discussed at a meeting on Friday. The report shows the overall rate of childhood overweight/obesity has stabilised across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Cambridgeshire's reception age obesity rate has dropped to about the Covid pandemic level, but Peterborough's rate reflects its historical trend of fluctuating, the Local Democracy Reporting Service Peterborough and Fenland stand out as having rates above the national average in childhood obesity in reception age and Year 6 age report states: "Tackling obesity is complex and requires a comprehensive and system-wide approach. It also means aligning to national policy, for example the Child Health Action Plan and Health Mission." A consultation is currently under way looking at the city council's public health behaviour change service budget, as the city council needs to shave £440,000 a year off its discretionary public health some of the services it provides are mandatory, such as substance misuse, health visitors and sexual health, others, such as services which aim to change behaviours which lead to poorer health outcomes are is proposed the savings are made by reducing spending on health trainers and adult weight management services, where evidence shows that the impact of these services on weight reduction in adults is support would be focused on activities which prevent people becoming overweight, including advice around diet and exercise. People would continue to be able to receive weight management support from the Shabina Qayyum, the council's cabinet member for public health and adult social care, said that despite an "uplift in the region of £400,000 in our public health grant for the current financial year", it was not enough to cover the demands of a growing said: "We have looked at the services we have a choice over providing and it is those where the impact is lowest, and where there are alternatives offered by the NHS, where we are proposing to reduce funding."Friday's meeting will consider obesity in the region and the areas that need to be addressed by the system in order to maintain and accelerate progress. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
