Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Accepted
Family hubs show early impact, but comparative effectiveness with Sure Start remains unclear
Conclusion
The Department told us that its childcare policy aimed to support child development and school readiness, alongside enabling parents to work, with supporting parents at home an important element.51 ‘Family hubs’, funded jointly with the Department for Health and Social Care, will be targeted in disadvantaged areas and aim to support parents.52 The Department stressed that family hubs are a relatively new initiative, but described seeing some early evidence of their impact. For example, Doncaster has seen a 1.06 times improvement in children reaching the early years foundation stage profile by age five.53 However, the Department could not yet say whether family hubs were as effective as Sure Start in supporting children from disadvantaged backgrounds, in part as the impacts on GCSE attainment from Sure Start have taken some time to crystallise, with the best evidence only emerging recently.54 The Department said it had, however used evidence from Sure Start to design the family hubs programme, for example in choosing to focus the hubs in disadvantaged areas.55 The Department noted there was a lot of enthusiasm for family hubs and expanding them would be an area for Ministers to consider.56 49 Qq 27, 47 50 Q 47 51 Q 47 52 Qq 34, 47 53 Q 50 54 Qq 48, 50 55 Q 48 56 Q 49 13 2 Understanding spending and the support needed across providers Understanding how funds are spent
Government Response Summary
The government announced a 45% uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP), increasing it to £570 per eligible child per year and published guidance to support local authorities in ensuring spend is used effectively, and will work with EEF to monitor the impact of the EYPP uplift and explore barriers to take up.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2026 3.2 The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme will continue to evaluate the rollout of their services overall alongside the delivery of individual elements. Evaluations will continue to be commissioned and led by independent evaluation teams. 3.3 In December 2024 the department announced a 45% uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP), increasing the amount of EYPP to up to £570 per eligible child per year – additional support for the most disadvantaged children. The department is keen to ensure that EYPP spend is used effectively by providers to improve children’s outcomes. To this end the department has published guidance, for the first time, to support local authorities in ensuring spend is used effectively. The department has also worked with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to support the development and launch of practical, evidence-informed advice for early years setting leaders on maximising the use of EYPP in their context - Early Years Pupil Premium | EEF. 3.4 To expand the evidence base on EYPP the department will work with EEF to monitor the impact of the EYPP uplift who will commission an independent, comprehensive mixed- methods impact and process evaluation to explore the potential mechanisms linking EYPP uplift and supporting improved outcomes for disadvantaged children. 3.5 The department is, in parallel, engaging with a number of local authorities to explore barriers to take up.