Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral evidence given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Science and Technology Select Committee on 1 May 2018, 384, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the number of children’s centres that are open in the most disadvantaged areas has stayed constant.

The percentage of children achieving a good level of development at age five and the gap between children eligible for free school meals and their peers at age five have been identified as improving in Staffordshire and Newcastle since children’s centre provision in those areas was reorganised in 2015-16. Further details are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2016-to-2017.

The Sutton Trust report ‘Stop Start’ found that the proportion of children’s centres in disadvantaged areas has remained constant. We will be writing to the Science & Technology select committee to clarify this point.