Tom Clarke
Main Page: Tom Clarke (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)Department Debates - View all Tom Clarke's debates with the Department for Education
(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)
In respect of the report of my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) on early intervention, do the Government accept that progress in education and the putting into place of their plan in response could be undermined if there are not sufficient assessments in the health service? Can we look forward to greater integration?
The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)
Making sure that services join together properly is absolutely key to getting early intervention right. That is precisely why we are rolling out 4,200 extra health visitors and making sure that they work very closely with Sure Start children’s centres. That is really critical. Similarly, the work we are doing on reforming the early years foundation stage, making sure there is more information available to parents, and the check at two and a half-years will really help with all the points the right hon. Gentleman has mentioned.