Last week I spoke in Ruth Cadbury MP’s Westminster Hall debate on the need for more affordable and accessible childcare that everyone can access. I highlighted the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the early learning of ethnic minority and disadvantaged children after research found that “considerably more” children from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds have missed out on formal early learning. As a result, the inequality gap has widened, with a likely consequence being that the attainment gap will also widen. I urged the Government to prioritise reversing this trend so that disadvantaged children have equity of access to quality early years education.

I was also proud to contribute an essay to the latest edition of Essays on Equality produced by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London which you can read here. Writing alongside the former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, I outlined the difficulties of balancing a hectic career in politics with being a mother and the many barriers that women face in the workplace.