Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what studies his Department is sponsoring to develop the evidence base on the effectiveness of early years intervention.

Although the Department is not currently directly sponsoring any studies to develop the evidence base on the effectiveness of early years intervention, it contributes funding to the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) What Works centre, which continues to develop this evidence base. In the financial year 2015-16 DWP funded the EIF to complete the evidence review ‘What works to enhance interparental relationships and improve children's outcomes’, which was published on 22 March 2016. This is informing the development of our new programme to tackle parental conflict.