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<p>The number of children in poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over
four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This not only harms children’s
lives now, but it also damages their future prospects, and holds back our economic
potential as a country.</p><p> </p><p>My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister therefore
announced, on 17 July 2024, the appointment of my right hon. Friends, the Secretary
of State for Work and Pensions and the Secretary of State for Education, as the joint
leads of a new ministerial taskforce to begin work on a Child Poverty Strategy. The
government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty,
to tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start at life.</p><p> </p><p>Tackling
child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving
the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them
of the opportunity to learn and to prosper. Too many children, particularly from disadvantaged
backgrounds, leave primary school with unresolved speech, language and communication
needs that have a lasting impact on their life chances.</p><p> </p><p>To help tackle
this now, the department will provide targeted support for teachers in early years
settings and primary schools to support children with the development of speech, language
and communication skills. More broadly, the department will work with teachers and
curriculum experts to identify how oracy can be woven into lessons across the curriculum
to support all children to succeed. Through this, the department aims to support teachers
across the country to realise the benefits of using oracy to teach, by adding it to
their repertoire and enabling more children and young people to flourish in life and
work.</p><p> </p><p>Early language skills are vital to enable children to thrive in
the early years and later in life, including for all aspects of later attainment in
school. To support early language skills, the department is investing over £20 million
in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme (NELI). NELI is an evidence-based
programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech
and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional
progress, which rises to seven months for those eligible for free school meals. In
July 2024, the department announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered
for the NELI programme, which is equivalent to two thirds of all English state primaries,
would continue for the 2024/25 academic year.</p>
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