12 December 2016

 

Dear Colleague

 

Consultation on First 1,000 Days

 

The National Assembly for Wales’ Children, Young People and Education Committee is undertaking a consultation on the First 1,000 Days.

 

Researchers have identified the First 1,000 days of a child's life-from pregnancy through to a child's 2nd birthday-as a critical window of time that sets the stage for a person's intellectual development and lifelong health. It is a period of enormous potential, but also of enormous vulnerability. The term First 1,000 days gives significance to the impact of the early years on children’s development and wellbeing, in the same way as we recognise terms such as toddler, teenager and senior citizen.

The Committee will consider the extent to which Welsh Government policies and programmes support the early parent role, before birth and during the first 2 years of a child’s life, and crucially how effective these are in supporting children’s emotional and social capabilities and development.

 

 

There are many and various influences on a child’s health and development. The Committee’s initial consultation will look broadly at the First 1,000 days, taking evidence on the effectiveness of Welsh Government policies and programmes that:

§  Promote and protect the health and wellbeing of children from pregnancy (for example through positive parenting, high immunisation rates and tackling smoking in pregnancy).

§  Deliver improved child health outcomes across Wales (for example prevention of obesity and the promotion of health-enhancing behaviours for every child such as eating a well balanced diet, playing actively, and having an appropriate weight and height for their age and general health).

§  Tackle child health inequalities, with a specific focus on child poverty and disabled children.

§  Reduce child deaths and injury prevention, particularly in the most deprived parts of Wales where infant mortality is much higher than the least deprived.

§  Support effective child development and emotional and social well-being - specifically interventions that are delivered outside the health service which can help to detect and address developmental delays.

§  Focus on improving learning and speech and language development through the home learning environment and access to early years’ provision (including childminders, preschools and day nurseries).

§  Reduce the adverse impact on the child of psychosocial issues such as poor parenting, disruptive family relationships, domestic violence, mental health issues and substance misuse through effective safeguarding.

Invitation to contribute

The Committee would like to invite you to submit written evidence. General information regarding consultation procedures, which should be considered carefully before submitting evidence to the Committee, it is set out in the Annex.  

 

 

Responses should be submitted by Friday 3 February 2017. It may not be possible to take into account responses received after this date. 

 

If you have any queries, please contact Marc Wyn Jones, Committee Clerk on 0300 200 6565.

 

Yours faithfully

Lynne Neagle AC / AM
Cadeirydd / Chair

 

 

Annex

Submitting Written Evidence to the Committee

Disclosure of Information

1.  The Assembly’s policy on disclosure of information is available; please ensure that you have considered these details carefully before submitting information to the Committee. Alternatively a hard copy of this policy can be requested by contacting the Clerk.

Submitting evidence

2.  If you wish to submit evidence, an electronic copy of your submission should be returned to: SeneddCYPE@assembly.wales.

Alternatively, you can send it to:
Children, Young People and Education Committee
National Assembly for Wales
Cardiff Bay
CF99 1NA.

3.  Submissions should arrive by 3 February 2017.  It may not be possible to take into account responses received after this date.

4.  When preparing your submission, please keep the following in mind:

• your response should address the terms of reference. 
  
  
• the National Assembly normally makes responses to public consultation available for public scrutiny and they may also be seen and discussed by Assembly Members at Committee meetings.  If you do not want your response or name published, it is important that you specify clearly this in your submission; and
  
  
• please indicate whether you are responding on behalf of an organisation, or as an individual.

 

 

Guidance for witnesses providing written evidence for committees

5.  The Assembly is committed to providing accessible information to the widest audience possible.  This short guide is to assist witnesses who produce written information for committees.  This will enable the Assembly to provide information submitted by third parties in an accessible manner.

·                     Use plain English and plain Welsh – avoid unnecessary jargon.

·                     Use a minimum of font size 12.

·                     Use a clear sans serif typeface, such as Lucida Sans. 

·                     Do not have writing over graphics, pictures or watermarks.

·                     Colours and contrast - writing should have maximum contrast to the background: dark on light, light on dark.

·                     Do not use block capitals, and minimise use of bold, underlining and italics.

·                     If you wish to refer to a published document, please include a hyperlink to that document, rather than the document itself.

 

6.  Where possible, information should be provided in Microsoft Word to ensure accessibility.  Where a scan or Pdf is provided, particularly in the case of signed letters or tables of information, the original Word document should be provided along with it.

General

7.  The Committee welcomes evidence from those with an interest in this subject.  If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please provide a brief description of the role of your organisation.  The Committee welcomes contributions in English and Welsh and we ask organisations with Welsh Language policies / schemes to provide bilingual submissions, in line with their public information policies.

8.  The Committee will consider responses to the written consultation. The evidence received will inform future Committee inquiries.

9.  For your information, the Committee has invited submissions from a wide range of organisations, a list of which is available on request.  A copy of this letter

 

has also been placed on the National Assembly’s website with an open invitation to submit views.  However, the Committee would be grateful if you could forward a copy of the consultation letter and Annex to any individuals or organisations that you believe might wish to contribute to the inquiry.