Sophie Metcalfe

Starmer government reshuffle: PM changes top team after Rayner's exit | Institute for Government The IfG team analyse the moves as Keir Starmer reshapes his Cabinet.

We've had a few surprising moves in this reshuffle so far - one of the big ones is Shabana Mahmood becoming home secretary. On our liveblog I've given a bit of an overview of what she'll face coming in:
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/live-blog/st...

New blog from @nehaldavison.bsky.social and I reflecting on the Best Start in Life strategy.

Interesting to see the govt signal it wants a bigger role in shaping the childcare market - there's a strong case for it, but it will be hard to do well and local areas will need the right support.

Policy making for left-behind groups: School readiness | Institute for Government How can government start closing the opportunity gap in early years education?

This does not ease concerns that early years policy is poorly aligned with the government's stated long-term delivery priorities for the opportunities mission. More on this in my report with @nehaldavison.bsky.social here.
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Break Down Barriers to Opportunity Giving children the best start in life.

We'll find out more in the coming weeks, but particularly notable that no spending commitment on the Family Hubs programme at this stage.

And nothing I could see on workforce support/training - despite increasing quality one of three early years priorities in the PfC
www.gov.uk/missions/opp...

Policy making for left-behind groups: School readiness | Institute for Government How can government start closing the opportunity gap in early years education?

As expected, funding is geared towards quantity of childcare (supporting the growth mission). Much less investment/focus on policies that will be more critical for narrowing inequalities in attainment at age 5 - as explored in our report here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Key funding announcements:
- Additional £1.6bn/yr by 2028-29 compared to 2025-26 for the childcare expansion for working parents.
- £370mn over next 4 yrs for new school-based nurseries
- £80mn/yr by 2028-29, shared with post-16 settings, to support free school meals expansion.

A mixed picture for the 'best start in life' strand of the Opportunities Mission in the SR today.

Welcome news on investment in schools, but early years provision for 0-4yrs is comparably absent - surprising given the PfC milestone commitment for 75% of 5-yr-olds to be school ready by 2028.

A job advert from the IfG for a Senior Partnerships Officer. Salary: £35,000-£39,000 Deadline: Sunday 8 June, 23:00

Are you a commercially minded communicator with a passion for public policy? We are looking for a Senior Partnerships Officer to join our team.

Applications are open until Sunday 8 June - find out more www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...

It's been brilliant talking to lots of early years experts for this series - many thanks to everyone who kindly gave us their time.

Excited to set out our plans for continuing this work here, with a particular focus on closing the early years opportunity gap for boys eligible for free school meals.

A big next step in the govt's Places for Growth strategy. With the right support, relocation can bring great benefits - see my write-up from visiting Sheffield policy campus here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/shef...

A smarter approach to homelessness | Institute for Government Prioritising prevention in the 2025 spending review.

Excellent new report from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk and @homelessnessimpact.bsky.social on how to take a preventative approach to homelessness.

The govt's current approach is unsustainable. The spending review is a crucial opportunity to turn that around.

Full report👇or read my🧵for a snippet

Enjoyed our Rewiring the State event this morning - lots to discuss, including our draft Civil Service Bill

Interested in joining the @instituteforgov.bsky.social? Our 2025-26 internship is now open for applications! Check out all the info at the link below

It’s time for my favourite video of the year

Our wonderful interns talk about the @instituteforgov.bsky.social and encourage anyone interested to apply for this year’s round

Five key changes set out in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill | Institute for Government What is the potential impact of the government's planning bill?

Planning reform given big emphasis in Rachel Reeves' statement today, including key measures from last week's Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

For a breakdown of 5 major changes, check out this recent blog from @sophiemetcalfe.bsky.social and me

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/five...

Thanks Anna. Yes v important point. Unfortunately it's not reported in the EYFSP data so we can't quantify it but agree on the likely effect. The data also misses other factors - e.g. parental mental health, looked after children - so we draw attention to wider research on those in the report.

Policy making for left-behind groups: School readiness | Institute for Government How can government start closing the opportunity gap in early years education?

And you can find the full report here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Check out @theipaper.com write-up of our report on school readiness - setting out which groups of children are falling furthest behind even at age 5, and what this means for the government's opportunities mission.

Less than half of boys from deprived backgrounds ready for school aged five New analysis has found just 43% of boys from deprived backgrounds are deemed school ready in comparison to 60% of girls

And check out the @theipaper.com write-up here

inews.co.uk/news/educati...

This is introductory research for the next part of this project - focusing on how to improve policymaking (processes, governance and services) for one particular 'left behind' group. Find out more in the report's foreword, and see our next steps here www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/early-years-...

Current policies are mainly universal, which may benefit children already doing relatively well. We call for govt to consider how it can meet its school readiness target while improving outcomes for those persistently left behind - to support its goal of closing the opportunity gap in a decade.

What does this mean for the opportunities mission?
- Targets are great for galvanising cross-govt action towards a clear, common aim.
- But there's a risk that govt aims for the school readiness target, and inadvertently reinforces the inequalities its aiming to eliminate through the mission.

(6) Interestingly, children with SEND or eligible for FSM tend to do better in areas where there are more of them. This could be economies of scale, more effective support where children are less a minority, or for SEND could be areas identifying more kids w SEND who need less support to reach GLD.

(5) We ran regressions to see which demographic factors best explain local authority variation in the share of children reaching a good level of development (GLD). The share of children with SEND was the strongest predictor, followed by the share of children eligible for free school meals.

(4) There's only 6 ppts of variation in school readiness between regions, but more when comparing the most deprived parts of regions (9ppts), and most substantial variation (>20ppts) at a local authority level.

(3) There are major disparities between boys and girls, widest in some lowest-attaining groups. 43% of boys on free school meals achieve a good level of development at age 5, compared to 60% of girls on FSM.

(2) School readiness doesn't trend downwards steadily from higher-attaining to lower-attaining groups – it drops off for a cliff for four key groups:
- children on free school meals
- children identifying as Gypsy/Roma
- Travellers of Irish heritage
- children with any SEND.

Key findings:
(1) There are big disparities between school readiness in different demographic groups - summary chart below showing the share of children reaching a 'good level of development' at age 5 in different groups.

Policy making for left-behind groups: School readiness | Institute for Government How can government start closing the opportunity gap in early years education?

NEW report from me and @nehaldavison.bsky.social on school readiness:

- Who is most at risk of not being school ready?
- What does this mean for the govt's opportunities mission? Is the target for 75% of children to be 'school ready' helpful?

🧵⬇️
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

A very big week for @instituteforgov.bsky.social and our Inside Briefing pod. We’re recording in Hull now and our instalment featuring the PM will land in your podcast feeds tonight.