To ask the Minister of Education to outline (i) which children are prioritised when allocating pre-school places; (ii) whether she has plans to create more places for children who are not prioritised; and (iii) how the current pre-school place allocation rules are enabling middle-income working parents to continue to work.

The Department’s aim, in providing funded pre-school education, is to provide a pre-school education place for every child in their immediate pre-school year whose parents want it. This has been achieved in each of the last eight academic years.

Admissions criteria are applied by pre-school settings in the event that they are over-subscribed – that is, if they receive more applications than they have places available. Not all pre-school providers will be over-subscribed during the pre-school admissions process. All admissions criteria are set by pre-school providers themselves, taking into account guidance provided by the Department, although legislation requires that the top criterion for each pre-school provider prioritises children from socially disadvantaged circumstances.

It is the responsibility of the Education Authority (EA) Pre-School Education Group (PEG) to ensure there is sufficient pre-school provision in local areas. The EA PEG has advised that currently there are sufficient pre-school places to provide a funded place for every child in their immediate pre-school year whose parents want it, therefore there are no plans to fund additional places at present. The position will be kept under review by the EA PEG to ensure that this remains the case going forward, and additional funded places will be made available if necessary to ensure sufficient provision overall.

While pre-school provision is focussed on the educational needs of the child, I appreciate the pressures which working parents face and acknowledge that, for some, pre-school provision is an important factor when considering their childcare needs. The provision of a funded place for every child whose parents want it, benefits all families in this regard. However, its contribution to meeting overall childcare needs is partial. My Department is leading on the development of the Executive’s Childcare Strategy, the aims of which are to improve child development and promote parental employment more broadly. A draft Strategy will be brought to the Executive in due course, however, the ultimate timeline for implementation of the Strategy will require Executive agreement on significant policy decisions, including a commitment to new and sustained funding.