Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue. Change and reform are needed to the system. That is why we are investing an extra £1 billion in support for children with SEND, and why we are investing in capital programmes to create the specialist places needed in mainstream schools, alongside delivering better mainstream inclusion. It is why we are rolling out the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools programme—the PINS programme—across more than 1,000 extra schools. We are delivering the support around neurodivergence that many of our staff say they need. Through the PINS programme, I have seen the critical work that can be done between parents and staff—often quite small, practical changes that can make the world of difference to children’s attendance at school and, critically, lead to better outcomes for children with SEND.

[Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Coastal) (Lab)]

They say that it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a Labour Government to give every child the best start in life. I warmly thank the Secretary of State for her announcement. As she may well know, in Suffolk not a penny is spent on family hubs at the moment. She said that this announcement was a game changer for children with special educational needs, and mentioned future provision being inclusive. In rural areas, there are declining populations in our primary schools. Will she outline whether there is an opportunity to use the increase in capacity to increase provision for SEND?

[Bridget Phillipson]

Following today’s announcement, my hon. Friend’s community will benefit for the first time from funding that will allow for a Best Start family hub and wider services delivered through that. She is right to identify that although the falling birthrate, including in her community, presents a challenge, it allows us to think about how we can use the schools estate to better deliver support for children.

It is a key priority of this Labour Government to deliver more specialist provision in the mainstream. I have seen some brilliant examples from right across the country of children being able to go to school in their local community with the targeted, specialist support that is needed. They can spend some of their time in a mainstream setting but also get the additional specialist support required. Through our capital settlement at the spending review, we will deliver more support for children in her constituency and right across the country.

School-based Nursery Capital Grants

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am sure that if the hon. Lady writes with further information, the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), will be happy to respond to her questions, but I hope I can give her some reassurance by saying that 27 of the schools that will receive funding will be in a partnership with a private or voluntary early years provider on the school site. Moreover, many of the providers that will deliver the service I have announced will do so around the school day: many schools will ensure that there is provision throughout the year, but also at the start and the end of school days, often delivered in partnership with private or voluntary providers.

[Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Coastal) (Lab)]

Four schools in Suffolk will benefit from today’s announcement, and two of them are in my constituency. I am delighted that Reydon and Waldringfield primary schools will benefit. Does the Minister agree that this new scheme will directly benefit rural constituencies such as mine at a time when access to nursery provision is even more challenging for families, including working families, than it is for their urban neighbours?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am delighted to hear about the impact that this will have on my hon. Friend’s constituency and throughout Suffolk. We believe that in rural communities there is an important role for school-based provision and expanding early years opportunities. Where schools are already at the heart or our communities, what I have announced will allow further provision, creating early years places that will support children and their families, and, crucially, it also represents an important step in supporting child development.