Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to ensure that children from lower-income families are reaching the same expected developmental milestones at the same age as other children in their peer group.

Every child deserves the best possible start in life – that is why all three- and four-year-old children and the least advantaged two-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours a week of high-quality early education to prepare them for school and improve their life chances. In addition, three- and four-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds are eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium, worth over £300 a year per child, to help them achieve better outcomes.

In terms of funding, the new Early Years National Funding Formula allocates additional money for three- and four-year-olds to local authorities with higher levels of deprivation, as measured by the incidence of children accessing Free School Meals. Local authorities are then required to use a ‘deprivation supplement’ to channel extra funding to providers operating in more deprived areas.