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Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “It’s disappointing, though sadly not surprising, that the government has opted to publish an education White Paper that focuses almost exclusively on schools, rather widening the scope and looking at the levelling-up opportunities presented by the education sector as a whole.

“While we welcome the fact that the government has recognised that “high quality early years provision will ensure children have the best possible start to their education”, the White Paper includes very little evidence or detail on how this is going to be achieved in practice.

“Calls for a long-term strategy for the early years sector have long been ignored by the government and today is no exception. The Schools White Paper is yet another example of the government’s insistence on prioritising schools over early years providers, despite a wealth of evidence showing that the best way to tackle educational attainment gaps is to invest in quality early education.

“Coupled with years of severe underfunding of the sector, this White Paper will do little to ease the worries of early years providers who understandably feel that government talk of building a great early education system in this country is little more than empty rhetoric.”