Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 39
39
Accepted
Ensure Best Start Family Hubs incorporate routine SEND screening and allocate dedicated funding for staff training.
Conclusion
The Department for Education must ensure that Best Start Family Hubs incorporate routine SEND screening and awareness as a core part of their early years services, supported by targeted training for staff and childcare providers to enhance early identification and referral. Additionally, dedicated funding must be allocated within childcare expansion and Family Hub budgets specifically to support SEND-related training for early years staff and families of children with SEND, resources, and integrated multi- agency working, ensuring sustainable and effective early intervention. (Recommendation, Paragraph 175)
Government Response Summary
The government highlights its existing 'Best Start in Life' strategy, which includes funding Family Hubs with trained professionals, early language interventions, and ongoing funding for SENCO training, but does not commit to introducing routine SEND screening or a new dedicated, ring-fenced funding stream for SEND-related training within Family Hub budgets.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
We are making changes to improve the system for children with SEND already. The Best Start in Life strategy means a stronger focus on early identification, inclusive access to early years education, and tailored family support. We are doing this by: • making inclusive practice standard practice, working with early years educators, including Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), to embed inclusive practice across all early years teaching and qualifications. • funding Best Start Family hubs in every local authority, with children and family services professionals specifically trained in working to support parents of children with additional needs. This will help identify children with special educational needs and disabilities who may need extra help early on, making links with local early years settings and health services. • funding evidenced-based early language interventions to enable early language development and identify SEND at the earliest opportunity. We will continue to ensure every reception class benefits from fully funded access to proven programmes such as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) – funding for the NELI programme will continue for a further 4 academic years until the end of AY 2028/29. We will also fund specialist early language leads in local areas to give hands-on support and training to early years educators and settings. Reception staff will also be able to access specialist early language lead support. For the early years workforce, we have already funded training for 1000 early years Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) to achieve their level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification by the end of FY2025–26, having already funded training for up to 7000 early years SENCOs in previous years.