Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the potential impact of workforce shortages in the early years sector on pre-school children’s language and communication development.

Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in their early years and later in life, including in all aspects of their later attainment in school. To support early language skills, the department is investing over £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme. NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, increasing to seven months additional progress for those eligible for free school meals. In July 2024 the department announced funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the NELI programme, two thirds of English state primaries, for the 2024/25 academic year.

To further support early language skills, the department is also delivering the early years education recovery programme. This includes providing funding for settings to undertake evidence-based continuous professional development programmes, including those focussed on speech, language and communication, via a national network of early years stronger practice hubs. The department is also supporting 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.  Additionally, training for up to 7,000 special educational needs coordinators will help children with speech, language and communication needs and support earlier identification of those needs.

The department is working in partnership with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders for 2 to 11-years olds and is 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.

The department is publishing early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment guidance and resources, including practical advice, tools, and downloadable resources. These will help educators assess children with SEND, capture their voice and set learning targets, featuring a dedicated tool for communication and interaction.

This government sees the early years sector as more than just childcare, it is central to our Opportunity Mission to give every child the best start in life. We are determined to create a sea change in the approach to early years, focusing on high-quality early education, celebrating and supporting early years careers, and embedding the sector into the wider education system. We are supporting the sector to attract talented staff and childminders by creating conditions for improved recruitment, alongside programmes to better utilise the skills of the existing workforce and make early years careers as accessible and rewarding as possible.

Our key interventions include a national recruitment campaign urging the public to ‘Do something BIG’ and start a career working with small children, testing whether financial incentives and a childminder start-up grant in early years boost recruitment, and Skills Bootcamps for the early years which lead to an accelerated apprenticeship.

These interventions are in addition to a package of changes to the early years statutory framework and new childminder flexibilities which give providers more choice over how they operate, as well as uplifting funding rates to support providers in dealing with the costs they face, including staffing costs.