Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to compare best practice in (a) the UK and (b) other countries in the development of its policies on early years provision.

The department meets with Ministers and officials from across the UK and other nations to discuss developments, approaches and best practice in the provision of early education and childcare. International evidence, such as the OECD’s Education at a Glance publication, is used to identify high performing and innovative early years systems and inform policy development. England is a member of the British-Irish Council, in which we actively engage to collaborate on a wide range of education matters, including early education and childcare across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.