Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Baroness Blower Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

As well as the announcements that we have made around the best start family service—which will, as I suggested, link in to libraries, for example, and other important local facilities—we were able to announce today that 2026 will be a National Year of Reading. There will be a whole range of activities linking with local libraries, led by the National Literacy Trust, to encourage more reading, both at a very early age and with a focus on children who might not otherwise be able to access reading. Alongside what I talked about in terms of the additional support that we are providing to early years workers and training on identifying special educational needs—as well as the stronger practice hubs that help with advice about how to support children perhaps with particular needs and help to develop reading and maths understanding, for example—that begins to be, and is, a strong package to ensure that we are both picking up children with particular needs around reading and promoting a love of reading among all children and their parents.

[Baroness Blower (Lab)]

My Lords, there is so much to welcome in this Statement, and I thank my noble friend for repeating it. I was going to ask about reading for pleasure, but she has just responded to that so brilliantly that I do not need to. I particularly welcome the raising of the status of the workforce. The presumption of inclusion is an absolutely excellent departure. It does of course mean that we have to be very clear that all these things need to be funded and that we need to have ongoing training—one-off training for people will not cut it. If we are going to have the expectation of inclusion, we need that to be part of everyone’s training all through. I am delighted to hear what she said about reading for pleasure.

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right about the investment in special educational needs, and disabilities in particular. I know she will recognise the additional £1 billion into high-needs funding that this Government have invested already; the £740 million-worth of capital that is going into creating extra spaces, particularly in mainstream schools, for the inclusive resource centre provision that enables children to remain in those mainstream schools; and the investment in more training for teachers.