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Please find below an embargoed comment from the Early Years Alliance on a new policy briefing from the Sutton Trust, arguing that current early years policies "risk widening the attainment gap and worsening the quality of education for all young children."

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

"The Sutton Trust is absolutely right to argue that current early years policy is embedding inequalities and widening the gap between the most disadvantaged children and their peers.

"For years, we have warned that the political focus on 'childcare' as a means to get parents back to work over and above 'early education' would lead to the development of poor policy that does not have the needs of the child at its centre – and the new funded offers, which completely exclude many families on the lowest-incomes, is a perfect example of just that.

"In no other part of the education system would we accept that a child's access to learning opportunities could be defined by their parents' income and yet, for some reason, we have decided that this is absolutely fine when it comes to the early years.

"The government constantly talks about the need to close the attainment gap, and yet their approach to the early years is likely to achieve the exact opposite. It's clear that the whole approach to childcare and early education needs a complete rethink – otherwise it is those children who need the most support who will lose out."