To ask the Minister of Education for his assessment of the capacity of current pre-school provision, including the number of available places, to deal with growing demand.

The Executive’s Programme for Government Commitment is to provide at least one year of pre-school education for every child whose parents want it. During the 2014/15 admissions process 99.9% of children, whose parents engaged with the admissions process to the end, obtained a funded pre-school place.

The Pre-School Education Advisory Group (PEAG) in each Education and Library Board (ELB) is responsible for the planning and provision of sufficient pre-school places in their area and I have allocated sufficient funding to meet the projected need for pre-school places across the north for the 2015-16 academic year.