EAST Hampshire MP Damian Hinds is cementing his role as Minister for Education by fighting the corner of five year olds who arrive at school without the speech skills needed to thrive in the classroom.

He has put two multi-million-pound projects in place to help plug the ‘word gap’ by encouraging parents to read to their children.

On Monday, Mr Hinds was in the north of England to launch a £5m pilot scheme to be run by the Education Endowment Foundation, designed to provide practical tools and advice to parents so they can teach their children vocabulary through reading and nursery rhymes.

The Education Endowment Foundation will look at what works best in improving children’s communication skills at home, before they begin school, and the most effective projects could later be rolled out across the country.

In addition, an £8.5m programme has been made available to local authorities to fund projects to improve early language and literacy development in disadvantaged children.

The move reflects the findings of research by Oxford University Press that half of five year olds in some schools are behind in their language skills and that disadvantaged children are disproportionately affected.

A National Literary Trust study has found that one in eight of the most disadvantaged children do not own a single book.

Mr Hinds believes that a lack of vocabulary can create a word gap that sets children behind their peers from day one and could hinder their progress for the rest of their school career.

In a statement, the minister said: “This Government wants every child to have the best start in life which means mastering the basics of speaking, reading and writing at an early age. It is important that parents and families can feel confident about supporting their children so they can start school with the appropriate level of language and social skills.

“This new support will help parents with early language learning at home by giving them practical advice on activities like reading and learning the alphabet which are so important in making sure no child is left behind.”

Married to wife Jacqui, a teacher, like many other parents the couple have enjoyed reading to their three children, and Mr Hinds understands first hand the importance of this shared time.

Passionate about improving social mobility and children’s opportunities to fulfil their potential he is concerned that, while schools do “a great job” in accelerating development, the differences that are discernible at the age of five can all too easily impact on attainment at 16 or 18.

He said: “Through the hard work of teachers and the government’s reforms, academic standards are rising with 1.9 million more children in schools rated good or outstanding than in 2010 and the attainment gap is narrowing in both primary and secondary schools.

“English children are also rising up the international literacy league tables from an early age, helping to make Britain a country fit for the future.

“Despite this progress, too many children arrive at school struggling with language and social skills, putting them at a disadvantage when they begin their formal education and making it harder for them to master the fundamentals of reading that other children take for granted.

“Over the past 40 years the amount of time parents spend on development activities, such as playing and reading with their children, has risen from 23 minutes per day to 80 minutes, but research shows that three year olds from certain backgrounds are 37 percentage points less likely to be read to every day than their peers.”

Mr Hinds explained that the aim of the Education Endowment Foundation projects is to give parents and carers “the tools to widen children’s language, vocabulary and social skills in the pre-school years to tackle the word gap that exists between disadvantaged children and their better-off peers at age five, and there is evidence that shows this has a long-term effect on educational outcomes.”

First announced in the government’s social mobility action plan Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential, which was published in December, according to Mr Hinds, who became Education Secretary in January, taking over from Justine Greening, “these measures will target support in areas that need it the most - ensuring equality of opportunity for children and young people and laying the foundations to give them an excellent education”.

In a separate drive to aid social mobility, the government has also committed £8.5m to a new early years social mobility peer review programme with the Local Government Association which will see councils working together to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children.

In welcoming the opportunity the programme will provide to “share and promote good practice and knowledge across councils”, Roy Perry, leader of Hampshire County Council and vice-chairman of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Councils are absolutely determined to make sure that children get the best start in life. This is why we need to close the word gap in the early years, by focusing on key early language and literacy skills, so that all children can begin school ready to thrive.”