Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Tim Farron Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

As a Government, we want to ensure that more brilliant people want come and work in early years, and that they can gain qualifications and training, and build fulfilling careers. We will work with the sector to do that. We will recruit more early years teachers, particularly in the areas where they are needed most, more than doubling the number of funded early years initial teacher training courses by 2028, and rolling out a new early years teacher degree apprenticeship. That goes hand in hand with consulting with the sector on introducing a new £4,500 early years teacher incentive to attract and keep early years teachers in nurseries serving some of our most disadvantaged communities.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I really welcome the Secretary of State’s statement on Best Start family hubs. I draw attention to the words she said in her statement: she wants those hubs to be “open to all” and “rooted in disadvantaged communities”. Will she bear in mind the evidence from the Rural Services Network showing that if rural England was a distinct region of England, it would be England’s poorest region? By definition, communities such as mine in the Grange peninsula, the lakes, the dales and the Eden valley are a long way from service and population centres. What will the Secretary of State do to guarantee that young people in rural communities such as mine will be able to gain benefit from what she is proposing today?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I know the hon. Gentleman always champions his community and the needs of rural communities across our country. With the additional £500 million for local authorities to deliver Best Start family hubs, we will set out guidance on how they can ensure that they are serving the most disadvantaged communities, but local authorities will have flexibility in determining how that operates. I know that many local authorities that have retained or protected some element of similar provision have done so in a way that is really tailored to the needs of their communities, and I would be happy to discuss that further with the hon. Gentleman if he would like to write to me.