Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure that children with (a) special needs and (b) disabilities are not excluded from childcare.

The Government is committed to promoting equality and inclusion for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and this is underpinned by clear requirements in the Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the Equality Act.

We introduced a new targeted early years Disability Access Fund, worth £12.5 million (£615 per eligible child), as part of the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) in April 2017. The EYNFF also requires local authorities to set up a Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund to support more strategic use of funding at a local level.

To ensure high quality support for children with SEND, our Early Years Workforce Strategy, published March 2017, sets out how we will ensure that staff can access the training and development they need. This includes developing a qualification by 2018 for early years staff who want to specialise in SEND.