Nick Clegg Two-year-olds from poorer families in England will be offered 15 free hours of pre-school education a week, Nick Clegg is expected to announce.
The deputy prime minister will outline the plan as part of £7bn extra to be spent on disadvantaged children over the next four years.
He will also promise extra help for students from low-income families.
The announcements come ahead of next week’s spending review, when planned government cuts will be revealed.
A large part of the £7bn will go towards a “pupil premium” – to follow the worst-off children through the education system.
This was a key Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment at the general election.
The money is expected to support children from the poorest 20% of families, who are entitled to free school meals.
They will be offered 15 hours a week of free nursery education at two years old, on top of the 15 hours already available at ages three and four.
The announcements come after Lord Browne’s report on higher education, published on Wednesday, recommended lifting the cap on tuition fees, with many universities expected to charge £7,000 or more a year.
This is likely to be opposed by Mr Clegg’s predecessors as Lib Dem leader, Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy.
Speaking in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Mr Clegg is expected to say: “The way we tackle the deficit will be a test of the character of the coalition.
“I am clear that we have a moral obligation to wipe the slate clean. We must shelter the next generation from the legacy of debt – and especially the most disadvantaged children.”
He will say: “Our vision of fairness is based on people having an equal crack of the whip; that the life chances of every child should be the same.
“It is simply not acceptable that the circumstances of a child’s birth can become a life sentence of disadvantage.
“So while the CSR [comprehensive spending review] will cut spending, it will increase our investment in fairness, and in particular in the promotion of social mobility and life chances. It will be an investment package for future fairness.”
Mr Clegg will say the “fairness premium” will deliver support for the most disadvantaged young people “from the age of two to the age of 20 – from a child’s first shoes to a young adult’s first suit”.
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