Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the benefits of early years interventions on people’s welfare and
social mobility later in life.
(Con)
My Lords, we know that the early years are key to children’s
later life chances, and effective early support is crucial. That
is why we have put unprecedented investment into childcare over
the past decade, committed £153 million to support education
recovery in the early years, rolled out the proven Nuffield Early
Language Intervention, and have announced £300 million to create
a network of family hubs and transform crucial Start for Life
services.
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her Answer. Given the
crucial lifelong impact of the early years on individuals, the
economy and society, and that we spend so much time, money and
resources attempting to fix things later in life which could have
been prevented, how do the Government plan to build on Start for
Life and ensure that benefits are sustained for children beyond
the age of two through the early education and childcare
system?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate is a great champion of young children.
We have both worked with a charity called the Nelson Trust, which
looks after disadvantaged children. There is £300 million to
transform Start for Life services and create a network of family
hubs in half the councils across the England. It will provide
thousands of families with access to support where they need it.
The Department for Education, the DHSC, the DWP and the
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities are
working together to ensure that those who need the help get
it.
(Con)
My Lords, perinatal mental health issues cost the NHS and social
services £8 billion a year, much of that because of the impacts
on children, yet half of such cases go undiagnosed and even those
who are diagnosed rarely get evidence-based treatment. We welcome
the women’s health strategy, but what more is being done to
address this frequently overlooked cause of misery and sometimes
death?
(Con)
This is such a distressing time for all mothers. They have babies
and expect things to be very special and magical but so often
discover the opposite. We must make sure that things are put in
place to help them. As of April 2019, all areas in England now
have comprehensive specialist community perinatal mental health
services in place, which saw 30,700 people in 2020-21,
re-expanding access to psychological and talking therapies with
specialist perinatal mental health services. This will see 26
hubs, with 10 new hubs in the process of being set up and the
rest due to open in April 2022. These hubs will offer treatment
for a range of mental health issues, from postnatal depression to
severe fear of childbirth to around 6,000 new parents in the
first year. The new centres will also provide specialist training
for maternity staff and midwives, as well as services for
reproductive health and bereavement.
(CB)
My Lords, acquisition of language and communication skills are
absolutely essential for children in their early years, as they
underpin their future development and life prospects. However,
awareness among parents and support is lacking. Support and
training for early years teachers is inadequate and there is a
high level of turnover in the early years workforce, which is
losing experienced staff due to low salaries and lack of career
benefits. There is concern about the viability of the sector. The
House of Lords Public Services Committee report, Children in
Crisis, published on 19 November, highlighted research by the LSE
which showed that “the economic cost”—
Noble Lords
Question!
(CB)
It is coming. The research showed that the
“economic cost of failing to invest in the early years in 2018/19
was £16.13 billion”.
Does the Minister agree that investing in early years provision,
such as increasing parental engagement and support and sustaining
a high-quality early years workforce will be better value for
money and socially beneficial? Can she please draw this to the
attention of the Treasury?
(Con)
As part of the Covid recovery strategy, we have invested £17
million in the delivery of the Nuffield Early Language
Intervention programme, improving the language skills of
reception-age children who need it most—language skills are so
important. Of course, it will not be possible to put that in
place unless we have the workforce to do it. The department is
committed to supporting the sector to develop a workforce with
the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to deliver
high-quality early education and childcare. We are investing £20
million in a high-quality, evidence-based professional
development programme for practitioners to target disadvantaged
areas and a further £10 million in funding a second phase of the
programme, which will be announced shortly.
(Lab)
My Lords, children in deprived areas benefit most from early
years education and childcare. Problems can be identified and
appropriate interventions arranged. They are better prepared for
school and learn valuable social and cultural skills. Big nursery
chains are expanding when they can charge fees. Poorer children’s
needs are often met by smaller, stand-alone nurseries that cannot
survive without adequate local authority funding. The projected
increase next April will not be enough to cover the increases in
costs of the minimum wage, national insurance, energy, pensions,
resumption of business rates and so on.
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
My Lords, may I please remind noble Lords that this is Question
Time, not speech time? Can we please have pithy questions so that
everybody can ask what they want?
(Lab)
How do the Government hope to sustain those nurseries’ vital
contribution to social mobility if their funding remains
inadequate?
(Con)
Of course it is very important that the independent nursery
schools carry on. We are investing additional funding for the
early years entitlement worth £160 million in 2022-23. This is
for local authorities to increase the hourly rates paid to
childcare providers for the Government’s free childcare
entitlement offers and reflects cost pressures as well as
anticipated changes in the number of eligible children. The
Government have confirmed the continuation of the maintained
nursery schools supplementary funding throughout the SR period,
providing the sector with long-term certainty. For 2022-23, we
will increase the MNS supplementary hourly funding rate by
3.5%.
(LD)
My Lords, it is widely accepted that the first few years of a
child’s life can influence their development, education,
character and aspiration. Disadvantaged and disabled children
need much more help than most, so will the Government commit to
additional funding, either through the early years pupil premium
or a disadvantage supplement for those eligible for the two-year
offer?
(Con)
That was very succinct. This is a very important area and the
whole point about the family hubs we are setting up across the
country is that we are bringing everybody together—families,
professional services and providers—and putting relationships at
the heart of family help, making sure that family hubs bring
together services for children of all ages, who all need help.
Family hubs can include both physical locations and virtual
offices to help parents.
(Lab)
My Lords, the additional funding announced in the spending review
to support children and families, including, as the Minister
said, the creation of family hubs, is very welcome, but
organisations working with disabled children and parent carers,
such as the Disabled Children’s Partnership, remain unclear as to
how these new hubs will deliver the care that disabled children
and their families require, particularly given the backlog in the
delivery of those services from existing hubs. Can the Minister
outline how that will be delivered once the new hubs are in
place?
(Con)
As the noble Lord said, it is very important that no one is left
behind. The SEND review is looking at ways to improve the
outcomes for children and young people with SEND. There has been
a consultation and proposals will be published in the first three
months of next year, when I hope we will know more.
(Con)
Has my noble friend had time to read your Lordships’ Public
Services Committee’s report on vulnerable children, published a
fortnight ago, finding that many fall through the gaps—going into
care, being excluded, joining county lines and ending up in
custody—and cost far more than if there had been early
intervention? Can she ensure a positive response from the
Government to the committee’s recommendation that the Government
should publish and fund a co-ordinated national strategy to give
a better life chance to these vulnerable children?
(Con)
I have to say to my noble friend that I have not read the report,
but I certainly will—it is going to be my weekend reading. We
welcome the report from the Lords Public Services Committee. We
are reviewing its recommendations and will respond in due course.
Our work and investment towards introducing family hubs that work
with children and families from birth to adulthood is so
important in the field of vulnerable children and young people.
