Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) language and (b) communication skills of children under three.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in the early years and later in life.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure every child has the best start in life and is prepared for school. The three prime areas of learning and development within the EYFS are particularly important for building a strong foundation, with communication and language being one of these prime areas.

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. The assessment requirements in the EYFS includes the progress check at age two and the EYFS profile, both of which involve reviewing a child’s development in communication and language.

To support early language skills, the department is providing 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. Additionally, we are providing training through the Professional Development Programme and the online early years child development training, both of which include a specific module focused on early language. Furthermore, we are providing training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators that will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of needs.

In partnership with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), we have also developed the early language identification measure, which supports local area health and early years partnerships to work in a more integrated way, helping to identify speech, language and communication needs as early as possible. We are also enabling Family Hubs to train practitioners to support families with the home learning environment and to help parents learn new skills, including providing effective support for children’s speech and communication.

Furthermore, we are developing programmes to support early language development, such as the department’s joint home learning campaign with the DHSC, Little Moments Together, which encourages parents to chat, play and read with their children, and provides helpful tips on activities on learning to talk. The campaign can be accessed here: https://campaignresources.dhsc.gov.uk/campaigns/better-health-start-for-life/better-health-start-for-life-home-learning-environment-2024/.

We are also working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2-11 year-olds, 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. We are also publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, which includes practical advice, tools and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice, and set learning targets. It includes a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.