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<p>As the Prime Minister made clear in his speech on 11 January 2016, the government
understands the importance of those first crucial years of life and that we need to
get parenting and the early years right if we are to improve children’s life chances.
The government will be publishing a Life Chances strategy in the spring which will
set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity, including
policies to give children the best start in life.</p><p>The government is already
implementing a range of policies which recognise the contribution of the first 1001
days of a child’s life to its subsequent academic and other attainment, which are
detailed below.</p><p> </p><p>Healthy Child Programme</p><p>The evidence based Healthy
Child Programme is the universal service offered to every family. Delivered by health
visitors, the programme centres on a series of screening tests, immunisations, developmental
reviews, and information and guidance to support families of children aged 0-5 years.
Since October 2015 there have been five mandated child development reviews, to provide
a national standard format to ensure universal coverage and ongoing improvements in
public health. Effective implementation of the Healthy Child Programme should lead
to readiness for school and improved learning.</p><p> </p><p>Best Start in Life programme</p><p>One
of Public Health England’s (PHE) national priorities is to ensure that every child
has the best start in life, so that they are ready to learn at age two and ready for
school at five. The Best Start in Life programme provides national leadership to support
local areas to take a whole system approach to commission and provide evidence based
services and interventions which improve child health outcomes and reduce inequalities.
PHE also has has also published a range of professional guidance for best practice
to support families in the first 1001 days.</p><p> </p><p>Integrated Review (IR)</p><p>In
2013, DfE ran a joint Integrated Review pilot with the Department of Health (DH) which
focused on two-year-olds in registered childcare settings. This was to test out the
most effective way of undertaking the early years progress check with the universal
DH Healthy Child Programme and providing parents with a holistic review of their child’s
development. In 2015, we provided funding to support the roll out of the IR by all
local authorities in England. We are currently piloting the second phase of the IR
with eight local authority pilot areas to test different local models of how early
years practitioners can collaborate with health professionals to identify parents
of two year-olds not in registered childcare settings, so that their children can
also benefit from an Integrated Review.</p><p> </p><p>Early Learning for Two Year
Olds</p><p>There is a strong body of evidence that shows good quality childcare and
pre-school provision, especially from age two and upwards, has positive benefits on
children’s all round attainment and behaviour. For this reason the government introduced
the early learning for two-year-olds programme in September 2013 for 130,000 of the
most disadvantaged children in England. In September 2014, the programme was later
expanded to 260,000 of the most disadvantaged children in England. The programme is
becoming increasingly popular amongst eligible parents.</p><p> </p>
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