My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has set out his ambition to halve by 2028 the proportion of five-year-olds who do not achieve the communication and reading skills they need to thrive. On 14 November 2018, he hosted a summit on the \u2018home learning environment\u2019, bringing together nearly 100 businesses, charities and public sector organisations to explore longer term opportunities to support parents with early learning at home. At the summit he announced £6.5 million for voluntary and community sector organisations who work with families of young children to support early language development, helping to address and support concerns when they can have the most impact; and to improve the early years education of children with special educational needs and disabilities.<\/p>
This builds on the ambitious social mobility action plan \u2018Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential\u2019, published in December 2017, which set out £100 million of investment. This includes £50 million to develop more high quality school-based nursery provision to increase the number of good early years places for disadvantaged children; and a £50 million investment in professional development through English Hubs, professional development for early years practitioners, and a dedicated what works fund.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4113", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stratford-on-Avon"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nadhim Zahawi"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-20T15:57:20.433Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Pre-school Education: Standards"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the attainment gap in early years education.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4006", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hendon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Matthew Offord"} ], "uin" : "190437"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1005908", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1005908/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Following our reforms to apprenticeships, we are making significant reforms to technical education, the centrepiece being the introduction of T levels - a high quality and rigorous technical alternative to academic education. T levels will be two-year classroom-based technical training programmes for 16 to 19 year olds, which include a technical qualification, work placement, English and maths and any other components required by employers. The first teaching of T levels will begin in September 2020 with all routes available from September 2022. We will be investing up to an additional £500 million a year on T levels once fully rolled out.<\/p>
This builds on our reforms to apprenticeships, making them longer, better, with more off-the-job training and proper assessment at the end. We are also encouraging employers to take on younger apprentices aged 16 to 18, through incentives to employers and training providers. We have also introduced a new careers strategy which sets out how we will go further to make sure that young people can talk regularly to employers and training providers while they are still at school. This includes a new law, requiring all maintained schools and academies to make sure that there is an opportunity for a range of providers to talk to pupils from years 8 to 13 about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships, so that they are aware of the different options.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1523", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Anne Milton"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Guildford"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Anne Milton"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-20T16:14:08.337Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Vocational Education"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve options for young people outside of academic study and qualifications.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4006", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hendon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Matthew Offord"} ], "uin" : "190438"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }