Peer recalls how Hollywood star inspired him to attend antenatal classes

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Hollywood star Cate Blanchett helped inspire a peer to continue attending antenatal classes with his wife, the Lords has heard.

Conservative Lord Hannan of Kingsclere said he was initially reluctant to attend the sessions as he feared they would include talks about “disgusting things that I really don’t want to hear about”.

But the former MEP said he found himself sitting opposite the “brilliant” Blanchett during the first class, joking this helped persuade him to turn up in future weeks.

Lord Hannan added the information he acquired during the classes proved useful more than a decade later when the midwife did not turn up on time during the birth of his youngest child.

His remarks came as peers considered the Support for Infants and Parents etc (Information) Bill.

This backbench Bill aims to place a legal requirement on local authorities in England to provide information on support services in their area for infants, parents or carers of infants, or prospective parents or carers.

Speaking during the Bill’s second reading, Lord Hannan stressed the value of having such information in one place before recalling: “I remember when our first child was on the way 23 years ago being very reluctant to go to antenatal classes.

“I thought there was going to be way too much information, they’re going to be talking about disgusting things that I really don’t want to hear about.

“So, I said to my wife by way of compromise, ‘Look, I’ll come to one’, I’d only recently been elected to the European Parliament, I thought this was going to be my excuse, ‘I can’t be there on Monday nights, darling, I’ll come to the first one’.

“Actually, I turned up to the first one and there sitting in front of me looking unusually glamorous was the brilliant actress Cate Blanchett, this was 2001 when she was at the height of her fame, the first of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy just having come out.

“So, I told my wife actually I better support her through the rest and I better turn up in future weeks.

“And do you know what, I’m jolly glad I did, my Lords, because 14 years later when our youngest child was born in our remote farmhouse, the midwife didn’t turn up on time – talk about you had one job.

“I found myself falling back on a great deal of the information that I had picked up at those antenatal classes in order to take charge of a quite stressful situation.

“So these things really do matter immensely.”

Conservative peer Lord Farmer, the sponsor of the Bill, earlier stressed the importance of the first 1,001 days, from conception to age two, for a child.

He said the Bill “simply and modestly” requires all local authorities to publicise their “Start for Life offer” to all new parents.

Lord Farmer said: “The Start for Life offer is information on services that a local authority is aware are available in its area for infants, parents or carers of infants, and prospective parents or carers, provided by or on behalf of public authorities.

“The named services in the Bill are maternity, health visiting, services promoting positive relationships between infants and their parents or carers, mental health, and breastfeeding and other infant-feeding services.

“Local authorities should also provide additional information on other services as appropriate.”

Health minister Baroness Merron recognised the “good intentions” in the Bill but said the Government has “reservations” about the detail.

She said: “The Government absolutely recognises the importance of the earliest days of an infant’s life and that we are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children in our country’s history.”

She added: “We will be going beyond simply the provisions of a Bill such as this, and I very much look forward to being able to update your Lordships’ House when I am able to do so.”

Lady Merron said the Government needs to “do things differently” from the previous Tory administration, adding: “We need the time and we need to be able to roll out our own cross-government package of support for infants, children and families.”

The Bill received a second reading and will undergo further scrutiny at a later stage although is unlikely to become law without Government support.