To ask the Minister of Education to detail any assessment made of the capacity of early learning and childcare providers to support children with special educational needs, particularly where settings do not have the financial resources to fund specialist training or additional staffing.

The draft Executive Early Learning and Childcare Strategy | Department of Education, launched on 17 December 2025, has been informed by a comprehensive engagement process, the department’s End-to-End Review of early intervention specific to the early years and the RSM (2023) DE Review of Childcare Services in Northern Ireland.

In response to these, a range of measures to support early learning and childcare providers to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEN/D) have already commenced with the initial Executive £80m investment on early earning and childcare provision in the last two financial years, these include the Pre-school Inclusion Fund assisting pre-school settings to support children with SEN and the extension of the Department of Health’s (DoH) Fair Play grant scheme. Continuation and expansion of these schemes, as well as support for specialist training for providers, are set out in the draft strategy. However, the scale and pace of implementation of the proposals are subject to Executive agreement and the availability of the funding required.