Blog: New Minister for Childhood and Schools
Putting Early Childhood at the Heart of Decision Making?
Thursday 29th September
By Claire O’Meara, Head of UK Policy and Advocacy and Emma Reece, Head of Political Affairs
On Tuesday the responsibilities for the new Ministerial team at the Department for Education were announced, with Kelly Tolhurst MP named Minister of State for Schools and Childhood. The move to bring together the previously separate portfolios of schools and childhood hasn’t been done before so explicitly. Here are some thoughts on what this change might mean for how children’s rights, particularly those of babies and young children, are supported in government decision making and what the Minister should prioritise in her first weeks and months in the job.
Firstly, the increase in status of this role from Parliamentary Under Secretary of State to Minister of State is good news for children and their rights. This is because with its responsibility for overseeing the UK Government’s fulfilment of their commitments to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the role needs authority and influence to galvanise cross-government support on a wide variety of issues affecting children. Having this role attend Cabinet, would further strengthen its capacity to deliver for children, but this current uplift is still a step in the right direction.
Joining together the schools and childhood portfolios should support the Minister to receive a more holistic view of children’s experiences; one that joins the dots between what happens in children’s lives at home and in their communities with their ability to thrive in school. For instance, having the person accountable for the Levelling Up mission to reduce educational disparities by age 11, also be responsible for early years (ages 0-4), the period when the foundations are laid for achievement at this older age, could help bridge current gaps in thinking on how best to achieve this. UNICEF UK would welcome a Levelling Up mission for the early years which recognises the unique value of early childhood development and the role it plays in reducing in health and education inequalities later in childhood. If the new Minister could secure this target, it would help catalyse efforts across government to address the geographical gaps in support for babies and toddlers’ during their vital years of development.
The expansion of this Ministerial portfolio does of course pose the risk of spreading the Minister’s time too thinly, resulting in some areas of responsibility receiving less attention. Much has been said of the ‘baby blind-spot’ in policy making, particularly in relation to the COVID 19 response, and the aforementioned Levelling Up agenda, where the needs of babies and young children have so far been largely overlooked. It’s essential that this Minister reverses this trend with a firm eye on making England the best place to be a baby and young child. One way to help do this is ensure that the next State of the Nation report on Children and Young People’s Wellbeing includes data on children aged 0-4, and not just from age 5 and up.
For now, an excellent first step would be for her to pop into our panel event at Conservative Party Conference with the Centre for Social Justice taking place on Monday 3 October, 10-11am ‘A Brighter Start: Making the UK the best place for children to hear from MPs, sector experts and service providers on how her role can meet this vision.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing the findings from our report on early childhood development in England, which looks at regional variations in support and makes the urgent case for stronger leadership, investment in services and better data to make sure we guarantee the best start in life for our youngest citizens. To learn more about our report and upcoming campaign on early childhood please email [email protected]
