Kate Middleton praised by MP for 'shining light on early years development'

Kate Middleton has been praised by an MP for the 'crucially important' work she does in the early years development field. 

• The Princess of Wales has previously warned that “not enough is being done” to help the next generation.
• Now, an MP has praised her work and awareness she's raising.
• In other royal news, Prince William shares a rare personal message about new tragedy following a tough few days.

This week, the Select Education Committee has announced they are launching an inquiry into the state of childcare after praising The Princess of Wales' “extremely welcome” interest in trying to improve the lives of young children.

Robin Walker, the MP for Worcester and chair of the education committee, has told The Times (opens in new tab) that Kate’s work to "raise the esteem and the recognition of the sector" is "crucially important."

He added: "It is extremely welcome that [the Princess of Wales] has taken that interest. One of the valuable things that the Royal family are able to do in the UK is draw attention to cross-cutting issues like this in a non-political way, but also to recognise the incredible work that goes on across the sector."

Last month, Kate wrote to The Telegraph and said how "not enough is being done" to help children in Britain. She wrote, "Early childhood, from pregnancy to the age of five, fundamentally impacts our whole lives, establishing the core foundations which allow us to go on to thrive as individuals, with one another, as a community and as a society."

Last year, the then Duchess of Cambridge launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, an initiative that promotes the investment in the first five years of a child's life to enhance their long-term wellbeing. 

In a passionate video message to her 2.2m Twitter followers, Kate explained how the project emerged from a growing concern for the prevalence of her country's mental health issues. 

"I wanted to understand what more we could do to help prevent some of today's toughest social challenges, and what more we could do to help with the rising rates of poor mental health," she said. 

After speaking with "psychiatrists and neuroscientists, practitioners, academics and parents," Kate came to realize that "the best investment for our future health and happiness is the first five years of life."

The foundation initially employs around six staff, but the Princess of is determined to elevate the campaign and has said the "best investment" for Britain’s future health and happiness is to invest in the first five years of life."

One royal aide said, "[Kate's] mission for the last few years has been exploring what is the best way for her to build something, build relationships, her own knowledge, expertise so that she can help position this work with that sort of importance.”