Successive governments over the past 20 years have sought to narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged children by enhancing the quality and quantity of early education.
A 2004 report by the Social Exclusion Unit, Breaking the Cycle, highlights how high-quality early years provision has been shown to improve children's development, particularly among poorer groups. This was a driver for the creation of Sure Start centres in the late 1990s, and a reason why the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition introduced in September 2010 an entitlement for 15 hours a week of free early education for all three- and four-year-olds. The entitlement has since been extended to the poorest 40 per cent of two-year-olds, and under measures introduced by the Conservatives, 30 hours a week of free childcare will be available for all three- and four-year-olds from September.
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