Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the Government's plan to make every school an academy on nursery school education.

The government has confirmed that the expectation that all schools will become academies by 2020 does not include the early years.

We know that close working between primary schools – whether they are academies or maintained schools - and nursery schools is essential to improving pupils’ transition to Reception. We would expect those excellent local relationships that already exist to continue, regardless of whether the school is an academy or not.