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<p>Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the
lives of some of our most disadvantaged children.</p><p>MNS experience costs over
and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local
authorities with around £60 million a year in supplementary funding to enable them
to protect MNS funding.</p><p>This arrangement is due to end in March 2020, and what
happens after that will be determined by the next Spending Review. We are aware that
the supplementary funding for MNS currently accounts for about a third of their budgets
- owing to uncertainty over the exact date of the Spending Review, we are considering
how best to handle transitional arrangements for a number of areas, including MNS.</p><p>This
government has an ambition to halve the proportion of children who finish reception
year without the early communication and reading skills they need to thrive. To support
this we are investing over £100 million in our social mobility programme. This includes
£20 million in high quality, evidence-based training and professional development
for pre-reception early years staff in disadvantaged areas; £26 million in a network
of English hubs; and £10 million to understand ‘what works’ in partnership with the
Education Endowment Foundation.</p><p>This ambitious work is underpinned by our early
education entitlements - where we are making record investment. This includes the
entitlement to up to 15 hours of free early education for disadvantaged 2-year-olds.
Since its introduction in 2013, over 700,000 2-year-olds have benefited and take-up
has risen and is now 72%.</p><p> </p>
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