Michael Gove argued that overall funding for early intervention would rise from £2.2bn in 2011/12 to £2.5bn in 2014/15 during a House of Commons debate yesterday, when MPs from all parties demanded answers about the future of the grant.
Graham Stuart, the Conservative chair of the education select committee, asked Gove to clarify whether government intended to abolish the Early Intervention Grant, and how it planned to maintain quality of services in early years provision.
Gove replied by saying that government would announce more information on the issue in the near future.
“The Early Intervention Grant money has never been ringfenced and will remain available to local authorities, which have statutory obligations to provide not just children’s centres but particular services,” said Gove.
“We will be announcing more steps in due course to ensure that money is spent even more effectively in the future.”
Labour MP Graham Allen, who has authored two government-backed reports on early intervention, challenged Gove to explain what the government intends to do with the £150m it announced it would hold back from the grant in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
“The £150 million to which he [Allen] refers is money that will go to local authorities in order to support the sorts of evidence-based interventions I know he has done so much to champion,” said Gove.
The Speaker of the House of Commons had to call for order during the debate, after shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg asked Gove to be “honest” about the allocation of money from the grant to fund free entitlement places for disadvantaged two-year-olds.
Gove responded by repeating his earlier statement that the grant was not being reduced to fund the early years entitlement.
In late September, a document revealed central government plans to retain £150m from the Early Intervention Grant over the next two years, while transferring the rest of the money to mainstream local authority funding and the Dedicated Schools Grant.
Register Now to Continue Reading
Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's Included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Email newsletter providing advice and guidance across the sector
Already have an account? Sign in here
