To ask the Minister of Education what impact the cut to Early Years funding will have on his Department’s Programme for Government Commitment 43, to ensure that at least one year of pre-school education is available to every family that wants it.

I remain committed to ensuring that every child whose parents want it will have a funded pre-school place within the Pre-School Education Programme. To that end I have allocated sufficient funding to Education and Library Boards to meet the projected need for pre-school places for children in their final pre-school year. I note that just over 1600 of the places are provided by groups in which some salaries are currently supported by the Early Years Fund. These places will continue to be funded under the Pre School Education Programme in the usual way.