Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the extent of any early years development gap measured by the Early Years Foundation Stage between those children eligible for free school meals and their peers (a) nationally and (b) in each local authority for the last 12 months for which data is available.

A copy of the data requested has been placed in the Library.

The results from the 2016 Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) show that 54% of children with free school meal eligibility achieved a good level of development in their reception year, compared to 72% of all other children. This gap has continued to narrow year on year – from 19.0 percentage points in 2013 to 17.3 percentage points in 2016.

We know, however, there is more to do, and that is why social mobility is at the heart of the Government’s agenda, and why we are investing a record amount in childcare - £6 billion per year by the end of this Parliament.

We are working hard to ensure parents and children - wherever they live in England - have access to high quality early years education places through the funded 15 hour entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds and for all three- and four-year-olds.

The Early Years Pupil Premium provides over £300 per eligible child to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. The Department is also investing £72m to address social mobility challenges in 12 Opportunity Areas across the country. Opportunity Areas will take a life course approach that runs from the early years through to university access and technical education