Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support early speech and language interventions in (a) Stoke-on-Trent North constituency and (b) Kidsgrove.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in early years and later in life, including for all aspects of later attainment in school.

The department has provided funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focused on speech, language and communication, via a national network of Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs. This has involved working closely with the Education Endowment Foundation to build the evidence pipeline in early speech and language interventions.

The department has invested £28.7 million to enable 75 local authorities, including Stoke, to establish home learning environment services through Family Hubs, to tackle the pandemic’s impact on children’s education and enable investment in speech and language interventions.

The department also works in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders, as well as working with partners to deliver an Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence programme, which includes implementation of published Speech and Language Communication pathway guidance and an Early Language Identification Measure.

Subsequently, the department has invested over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme. In July 2024, we announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme (two thirds of English state primaries) would continue for the 2024/25 academic year. Schools across Stoke-On-Trent North and Kidsgrove are able to access the NELI intervention.