Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the early years attainment gap over the last ten years.

The ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) results 2017-2018’ include time series data on attainment gaps for pupil characteristics - including eligibility for free school meals (FSM), special educational needs and disabilities and ethnicity - for the period 2013 to 2018. (EYFSP 2018 additional tables by pupil characteristics – Table 1: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/759345/EYFSP2018_additional_tables.xlsx).

Since 2013, the gap between the percentage of children eligible for FSM achieving a good level of development and their peers has narrowed by 1.7 percentage points.

EYFSP data for 2008 to 2012 can be found online, however since the EYFSP was revised for academic year 2012-13, any data prior to this is not comparable.