Speaking as the chair of the cross-party inquiry by MPs into perinatal health and child maltreatment - the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry for Conception to Age 2 - Mr Loughton said that the first 1,001 days of a child’s life should be as important to ministers as the ‘defence of the realm’.
The panel of MPs heard from experts in child development and health over a number of months and the report published today makes nine recommendations drawing on that evidence.
It claims that £23 billion each year - more than two-thirds of the annual defence budget - is spent on failing to deal adequately with perinatal mental health and child maltreatment.
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