Trott also asked Phillipson to confirm that no child would lose extra support they are currently getting through an EHCP as a result of the reforms to Send provision the government is planning to announce in the autumn.In response Phillipson said:This government will make sure that all of our children get the best start in life, including children with Send, and that is why, through the school white paper later on this year, we will ensure that all of our children, including those with Send, get better outcomes than they have at the moment.But many opposition MPs continued to press her on this, and Phillipson subsequently gave slightly firmer assurances – but without saying that EHCPs will survive in their current form.In response to Robbie Moore (Con), who asked for an assurance that children in mainstream education would not lose the “precious legal protections” they get through an ECHC, Phillipson replied:Isn’t it fascinating how many members opposite suddenly have a keen interest in support for children with Send.And he blithely says “whatever the challenges” of the Send system.

“Whatever the challenges”? They’re the challenges that [the Conservatives] left behind.They are challenges that this Labour government will rise to.There will always be a legal right to the additional support children with Send need, and we will protect it.But alongside that, there will be a better system with strengthened support, improved access and more funding – something the party opposite failed to do in 14 years.They left a terrible mess behind – families, children failed.

A degree of humility and understanding from any of them would get us a lot further along the way.Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has announced that the government will roll out up to 1,000 “Best Start” family hubs across England, building on the legacy of Sure Start.She described the Tory decision to close Sure Start centres as “vandalism”.(See 5.22pm and 5.

43pm.)Phillipson has said that the government will protect the “legal right to the additional support children with Send [special educational needs and disabilities] need” when it reforms the Send system later this year.(See 6.09pm.) But the government has not said that all Send children who currently get extra help because they have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) will continue to receive that when the changes are implemented.

Reform UK has told its members it is introducing a less stringent “common sense” vetting system for would-be candidates after complaints the previous checks were too strict, despite a recent series of controversies linked to the party,For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog,Trott also asked Phillipson to confirm that no child would lose extra support they are currently getting through an EHCP as a result of the reforms to Send provision the government is planning to announce in the autumn,In response Phillipson said:This government will make sure that all of our children get the best start in life, including children with Send, and that is why, through the school white paper later on this year, we will ensure that all of our children, including those with Send, get better outcomes than they have at the moment,But many opposition MPs continued to press her on this, and Phillipson subsequently gave slightly firmer assurances – but without saying that EHCPs will survive in their current form.

In response to Robbie Moore (Con), who asked for an assurance that children in mainstream education would not lose the “precious legal protections” they get through an ECHC, Phillipson replied:Isn’t it fascinating how many members opposite suddenly have a keen interest in support for children with Send.And he blithely says “whatever the challenges” of the Send system.“Whatever the challenges”? They’re the challenges that [the Conservatives] left behind.They are challenges that this Labour government will rise to.There will always be a legal right to the additional support children with Send need, and we will protect it.

But alongside that, there will be a better system with strengthened support, improved access and more funding – something the party opposite failed to do in 14 years.They left a terrible mess behind – families, children failed.A degree of humility and understanding from any of them would get us a lot further along the way.Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, told Phillipson that it was the last Conservative goverment that started setting up family hubs.She said Labour used to criticise them as a poor imitation of Sure Start, but now they were the basis for the Labour government’s own policy.

In her opening statement to MPs, Phillipson said that children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) also needed a great education.Early intervention can work wonders to lower barriers to learning.So under this government, inclusive practice will become standard practice.In her opening statement to MPs, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, described the way the Conservatives wound down the Sure Start programme as “vandalism”, saying that the removal of these services inflicted harm on children and deepened inequalities.She said these services were vital because “40% of the disadvantage gap at the age of 16 is already there at age five”.

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has just made a statement to MPs about the government’s Best Start in Life strategy.It is about support for parents with children under the age of five, including through “Best Start family hubs”.These family hubs are a new version of family hubs that were set up by the last government.And those family hubs were seen as a revival of Sure Start centres, which were seen as one of the most successful innovations of the Blair government but many of which were run down or closed after 2010.Here is the policy paper explaining the strategy.

The Department for Education has put out two news releases about the scheme – this one, saying that Best Start family hubs will be rolled out in every local authority in England by April 2026, with up to 1,000 in place by the end of 2028, and this one saying that a new tax-free payment of £4,500 will help nurseries hire trained early years teachers.And here is a list of where family hubs will go.In her statement to MPs, Phillipson said the Best Start family hubs would build on the legacy of Sure Start.She said:One in four families with children under five struggle to get trusted advice.For families on low incomes, it’s one in three.

And it wasn’t always like this,There was a time when government cared deeply about children’s development, as members across this house will know all about Sure Start, about the quiet revolution in the lives of our children carried out by the last Labour government,Sure Start was one of the proudest achievements of that Labour government, and I’m proud today to build on its legacy, because we remember all the good it did for our children, for our communities and for our country,Sure Start raised exam results and reduced hospitalisations, it improved early identification, it boosted physical health, it boosted mental health, it reached disadvantaged families and it made a difference to their lives,Sure Start was a triumph, but of course it wasn’t perfect – no programme ever is – but it worked in so many ways and for so many families.

Stormont has been urged to remove a “cruel clause” that “writes out” thousands of women, girls and their children in a mother and baby homes bill, PA Media reports.PA says:Campaigners, including survivors of the homes run by the Catholic Church, religious orders, some Protestant denominations as well as the State, and relatives, gathered at Parliament Buildings today.More than 14,000 women and girls are thought to have passed through the institutions, with many found to have been mistreated, held against their will and forced to give up their children for adoption.The inquiry (mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses) and redress scheme bill was introduced at the assembly earlier this year, and is being scrutinised by the executive office committee.The bill is to establish a statutory public inquiry and a statutory redress scheme, with a payment of £10,000 to be made to eligible claimants, and a £2,000 payment to eligible family members on behalf of a loved one who has died since September 29 2011.

Adele Johnston, of Birthmothers and their Children for Justice NI, described the 2011 cut-off date as “cruel”.“On one hand we are pleased we have finally got as far as the legislation being written but there needs to be a lot of work done to make it acceptable to victims and survivors,” she said.“There are a lot of aspects that need to be discussed and hopefully amended.We are quite hopeful going forward, but it all depends on their decisions at the end of the day.It’s been a long, long campaign, and a long, hard campaign, jumping through hoops, meeting ministers, baring our souls to the public.

It’s not easy.“But with one cruel clause in the bill, they have written out thousands of women, girls and their children.The 2011 date for posthumous claims is utterly unacceptable and we will continue to fight that.”Tony Blair’s thinktank worked with a project developing a postwar Gaza plan that included the creation of a “Trump Riviera” and a manufacturing zone named after Elon Musk, Ben Quinn reports.Commenting on the story, the SNP said Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, should cut their links with the thinktank.

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:The Tony Blair Institute has been involved with a group who were developing a plan which amounts to ethnic cleansing in the Gaza strip.It is one more awful stain on Tony Blair’s shameful legacy in the Middle East …If the Labour Party fails to immediately cut ties to the Tony Blair Institute, it will also severely undermine their credibility in achieving a two state-solution in the region.Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, has set out five principles that should apply to the government’s reform of Send education.In a post on social media, he says:There is lots of research that shows inclusive education leads to better outcomes for SEND and non-SEND children.But some things I think are needed to make it work:1) FUNDING: The IFS is recommending “double funding” during the transition to a new SEND system in England, to ensure that schools are adequately funded while also transitioning.

2) Use the overall decline in pupil numbers as an opportunity to reduce class sizes - we need better ratio of teacher to student,Class sizes of 20 would be a good thing and bring us closer to a european average,3) Change how we assess children and move away from ‘one size fits all’ style of education - This does not cost money!!4) Stop private special schools making profit from SEND kids - we need to give LAs power to open special schools and plan places,5) Re-design the accountability system so that the progress that all children and young people make is VALUED and celebrated,David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has confirmed an independent review into how the government responded to the death of Harry Dunn.

It will be carried out by the former chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers.In a news release, Lammy said:I am confident the review into how the case was handled by the previous government has the remit required to properly address the family’s concerns and to ensure lessons are learned.Having worked previously with Dame Anne Owers on the Lammy Review in 2017, I don’t believe anyone is better qualified to undertake this important piece of work.Darren Jones, the chief secreatary, to the Treasury, has declined to say how the government will fill the hole in the government’s financial plans caused by its recent policy U-turns on winter fuel payments and the welfare bill.In a Commons urgent statement, Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said these U-turns left the government with unfunded commitments worth £6bn.

He said that either the government announced these U-turns “without a clue as to how they will be funded”, or it was refusing to say.Either was “completely unacceptable”, he said.In response, Jones said tax changes would be annoounced at the budget, as usual.Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, has said he has spoken to Keir Starmer, discussing “joint diplomatic efforts” and plans for a meeting of the “Coalition of the Willing” in Rome “in a few days.”“We are working to ensure the decisions made are as strong as possible,” he said.

In an update on his Telegram and X accounts, Zelenskyy also said Starmer also expressed his condolences over continuing Russian attacks on Ukraine as the two discussed what else can be done to support Ukraine.“We also discussed additional funding to be provided this month for Ukraine’s domestic drone production, primarily interceptor drones,” he said.Zelenskyy added that the pair also “agreed to work on strengthening other formats of cooperation with key partners as well, particularly the Ramstein format,” with focus on protecting lives of Ukrainians against on-going attacks by Russia.There is more on this on the Europe live blog.The Treasury has announced a £29m investment from the National Wealth Fund in Peak Cluster, a carbon capture project in the Peak District.

In a news release the Treasury says:This funding for the flagship Peak Cluster project is the first step towards the development of a leading carbon capture pipeline between cement and lime companies in the Peak District which will store emissions deep below the Irish Sea – accelerating Britain’s transformation into a clean energy superpower.The Peak Cluster project is the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project - preventing over 3 million tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere every year and providing a secure domestic supply of cement and lime products the British construction and manufacturing sectors rely on.Backed by £31 million from private partners including Holcim, Tarmac, Breedon, SigmaRoc, Summit Energy Evolution and Progressive Energy together with the Morecambe Net Zero project could create and secure 13,000 jobs in the Midlands and North West.