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/1005912", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1005912/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
I am determined that all children and young people, including those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment, receive the support they need to achieve the success they deserve. I am meeting with the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society in November to find out more about their concerns.<\/p>
In April, the Whole School special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consortium, led by the National Association for Special Educational Needs, were awarded a two-year contract for a new programme of work which will focus on building the skills of teachers working in mainstream and special schools and ensuring the schools\u2019 workforce are equipped to identify and meet their training needs in relation to SEND. The National Sensory Impairment Partnership are part of the consortium.<\/p>
Local authorities play a key role in providing support to children and young people with sensory impairment. They are best placed to determine local priorities and make funding decisions in consultation with local people and having regard to the range of statutory responsibilities placed on them. High needs funding, for children and young people with more complex SEND, increased from £5 billion in 2013 to just under £6 billion this year.<\/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" : "2018-11-20T16:23:15.123Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Education: Hearing Impairment"} , "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 improve the provision of education services to children with a hearing impairment.", "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" : "190441"} ], "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"]} }