Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the attainment gap in early years education.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has set out his ambition to halve by 2028 the proportion of five-year-olds who do not achieve the communication and reading skills they need to thrive. On 14 November 2018, he hosted a summit on the ‘home learning environment’, bringing together nearly 100 businesses, charities and public sector organisations to explore longer term opportunities to support parents with early learning at home. At the summit he announced £6.5 million for voluntary and community sector organisations who work with families of young children to support early language development, helping to address and support concerns when they can have the most impact; and to improve the early years education of children with special educational needs and disabilities.

This builds on the ambitious social mobility action plan ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, published in December 2017, which set out £100 million of investment. This includes £50 million to develop more high quality school-based nursery provision to increase the number of good early years places for disadvantaged children; and a £50 million investment in professional development through English Hubs, professional development for early years practitioners, and a dedicated what works fund.