Two thousand more two-year-olds will be eligible for a free early education place from September, a year earlier than originally planned.

Trials will take place in ten areas: Blackpool, Cornwall, Greenwich, Kent, Lambeth, Lancashire, Newcastle, Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Rotherham.

The plans were announced as the Deputy Prime Minister and children's minister Sarah Teather held a childcare summit with representatives from early years organisations and the biggest nursery groups in the country to discuss how best to expand the scheme.

The Government's response to the consultation on proposed changes to the entitlement to free early education and childcare sufficiency sets out plans for the first phase. Alongside it, there is new statutory guidance for local authorities on the delivery of free early education for threeand four-year-olds and securing sufficient childcare, which comes into force on 1 September, and replaces the current Code of Practice.

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