Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the Government's policy is on supporting children from low income families to meet their developmental milestones prior to starting primary school.

Every child deserves the best possible start in life – that is why all three- and four-year-old children and the least advantaged two-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours a week of high-quality early education to prepare them for school and improve their life chances. In addition, three and four year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium, worth over £300 a year per child, to help them achieve better outcomes.

In terms of funding, the new Early Years National Funding Formula allocates additional money for three and four year olds to local authorities with higher levels of deprivation, as measured by the incidence of children accessing Free School Meals. Local authorities are then required to use a ‘deprivation supplement’ to channel extra funding to providers operating in more deprived areas.