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The Early Years Alliance has issued a comment in response to confirmation from education secretary Gillian Keegan that the current Schools Bill "will not progress".

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:  

 “We are pleased to see that the Schools Bill won’t progress in its current form, it contained many flaws and while it vaguely recognised the importance of early education, there was shockingly little evidence as to how this was actually going to be achieved in practice.   

“That said, it is vital that this doesn’t prompt the challenges facing education to be forgotten. The government must use this as an opportunity to recalibrate its focus and ensure that the early years plays a central role in any future policy and funding decisions.   

“Let’s be clear, England’s early years sector has reached the end of its tether- high quality educators are leaving in their droves and the number of setting closures continue to soar, but despite this there is little direction, and even less funding from the government. We urge the government to address this before the sector's outlook gets unimaginably worse.”