I am glad to be launching the 1001 Critical Days Manifesto today, which has been developed by a cross-party group and calls for more support for babies and parents.

In Brighton, I was delighted to learn recently that local Clinical Psychologist Dr Kerry Taylor had been successful in her bid for Brighton to be one of the first areas in the UK to be funded for a new approach to supporting families, a Parent Infant Partnership, or PIP.

Kerry has founded the organisation BrightPIP with a view to developing this in Brighton and Hove – an initiative which I fully support.

BrightPIP promotes early bonding between parent and child, recognising the profoundly positive influence that a secure attachment has on brain development.

This lays the ground for infants to grow into emotionally stable adults.

The link between parental mental health, attachment, and the developing child’s mental health (as well as long term factors such as education and risk of criminality) has been made repeatedly in recent research and literature.

Investment in this attachment will greatly benefit families and reap massive cost savings in the short and long term.

There is a clear need for a parent-infant mental health service here in Brighton and Hove.

The city has twice as many children on a child protection plan than the national average, whilst the number of looked after children in the city is 1.7 times higher than the national average.

These children, along with those who have suffered traumatic life events, are most likely to have a clinically significant mental health disorder.

The city’s lack of targeted provision also means parents are losing out.

It is estimated that for the 3,300 babies born in Brighton and Hove every year, 330 mothers are likely to develop post-natal depression, 100 to suffer from other mental health problems and 14 will be admitted to hospitals with severe psychosis and depression.

If successful, BrightPIP’s influence would be far-reaching.

BrightPIP is now looking for match-funding and local authority support and, as a patron of the organisation, I will be working closely with Kerry to improve outcomes for babies and families in Brighton and Hove.