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<p>Families play a critical role in caring for and educating their children; and the
COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the need for cross-government collaboration to provide
support to families. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education is
driving forward this government’s focus on improving outcomes for families’ and has
appointed a Departmental Policy Adviser on families.</p><p>On family hubs, the department
is investing over £14 million and is taking steps to champion this approach. We expect
to have completed the procurement of a National Centre for family hubs by March 2021
and for the centre to be up and running by spring 2021. We are also investing in an
evaluation innovation fund, and work to develop data and digital products to help
professionals collaborate and plan with families in the early years.</p><p>To support
and strengthen families, and to ensure children have the best start, the department
has:</p><ul><li>launched an Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, on 15 January
2021;</li><li>announced that the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) will continue for a further
year up to March 2022 (£185 million has been made available through the core ASF to
help pay for essential therapeutic services for over 65,000 adoptive and eligible
special guardianship families since 2015);</li><li>launched the cross government special
educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review to strengthen the support available
to children and young people, and their families;</li><li>continued to deliver 30
hours childcare places to nearly 350,000 children in January 2020, with over one million
disadvantaged two-year-olds having benefitted from 15 hours free childcare since the
entitlement began in 2013;</li><li>commenced reform of the early years foundation
stage to improve outcomes for all children at age five, especially disadvantaged children,
and to reduce the workload so practitioners and teachers can spend more time teaching
children;</li><li>introduced the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to 40% of primary
schools in the 2020-21 academic year to address the education recovery needs of reception-age
children;</li><li>continued to work with voluntary and community sector partners and
deliver online resources to help parents engage in home learning activities with under-fives
to support early language, literacy and numeracy development, and parent and child
mental health and wellbeing, and to support children with SEND;</li><li>worked in
partnership with Public Health England, the Local Government Association and the Early
Intervention Foundation to secure improved early language outcomes for disadvantaged
children through effective integration of local services;</li><li>spent more than
£18 billion since 2011 – and another £2.4 billion this year – through the pupil premium
to tackle educational inequality;</li><li>supported families through free school meals
(FSM) - under the benefits-related criteria there are currently around 1.4 million
pupils eligible for and claiming FSM, saving families around £400 a year for each
child. In addition, the Holiday Activity and Food programme will expand in 2021 so
that disadvantaged children across England will be offered free healthy meals and
enriching activities over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays through a £220
million investment.</li></ul>
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