To ask the Minister of Health to detail any actions he is taking to address the number of children not being seen by a health visitor for their one year review.

The most recent version of the “Healthy Child, Healthy Future (HCHF): Health Review Statistics for Northern Ireland 2023/24”, provides data in respect of the coverage and timeliness of all Health Visiting pre-school health contacts. The information contained within the report is retrospective and pertains to the 2023/24 year.

During the period covered by this report, Health Visiting services in some of our HSC Trusts faced significant workforce challenges, with a large number of unfilled vacancies. Work has been ongoing within Trusts to address this with workforce planning and recruitment exercises, and prioritisation of HCHF contacts as appropriate. Any decision to stand down any element of core health visiting contacts, as defined within the existing HCHF framework, will be subject to a risk assessment by the relevant HSC Trust.

I remain committed to ensuring that every child is given the best start in life. Driving this commitment is the work currently progressing on the refresh of the “Healthy Child, Healthy Future” framework, to ensure it reflects current research evidence and best practice. I anticipate that this refresh will be completed by Spring 2025.