In November, Liberal Democrat ministers published plans to extend the 15 free hours of nursery a week to 250,000 two-year-olds from the households with the lowest incomes.

Merton Liberal Democrats are delighted that approximately 500 children across Merton are expected to benefit and, by giving this help to children from the poorest backgrounds in our area, will benefit them for years to come.

Writing for the Lib Dem Voice website, Minister of State for Children and Families and Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central, Sarah Teather said:

"In last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review Nick Clegg announced that the 20% most disadvantaged families would be guaranteed 15 free hours of early education each week. The additional £650m announced today will extend that to 40% of families. This will mean that the 260,000 most disadvantaged two year-olds will benefit by the end of this Parliament."

Read Sarah Teather's full article here