To ask the Minister of Health to detail any plans he has to improve and upgrade the childcare sections of the Family Support NI website.

The public register of childcare providers sits within the childcare directory on Family Support NI.

Anyone using the childcare search for registered providers, can search by postcode to find childcare nearest them and then filter search results by: -

Vacancies

Experience of Disability / Complex Needs

School Pick-ups/drop offs

Accepts Childcare Vouchers

Flexing Working Hours

Tax Free Childcare

FSNI also hosts useful related articles for Working Parents including

‘Working Parents – Financial Assistance with Childcare Costs’

‘Finding Childcare’

‘Benefits of Registered Childcare’

The Family Support NI team have run several advertising campaigns (funded by Brightstart) to promote-

FamilySupportNI as the public register of childcare providers for Northern Ireland.

Government financial assistance available for working parents

Benefits of using Registered Childcare provision.

In 2024 to encourage better engagement from childcare providers on this platform (particularly regarding vacancies) a Self-Service Portal was added to the website. This was launched in March 2024.This portal enables all registered providers to log into their own account and populate/update services available.

At 31st March 2024 we had 3353 Childcare providers on the register. To date (at 22 May 2024) we have had 428 (13%) log into the Self-Service portal to update their details.

These figures indicate the need for greater engagement from registered childcare providers to update their information to make it more up to date and useful for parents.

Future Developments for FSNI: -

FSNI are proposing to expand information for parents looking for childcare. This will include adding fields to the database/website which will provide additional information on: -

Detailed costs/rates for childcare provider

More detail for breakfast club/school drop offs and collection i.e. does provider offer breakfast prior to drop off?

More detailed vacancy information i.e.

Current Vacancies (0-4yrs)? Current Vacancies (Primary School Aged)?

No Current Vacancies but will have vacancies on

No Current Vacancies, none for the foreseeable

Particular days vacancies are available? AM or PM?

Opening Times / Availability

Term time only / school holiday only/all year

Particular days?

Care outside typical hours to suit shift workers/unsocial hours (weekends, late evenings, early mornings)

Supporting children with disabilities/additional needs - Accessible toilets/ Accessible parking/ Access by ramps/level access

Special/Additional Needs provision/experience e.g. Dyspraxia, Autistic spectrum, Asperger’s Syndrome

Special Needs training/qualifications

Special Dietary Needs (have experience/ provision?)

Allergies (have experience/provision?)

Sensory Communication training? Sign Language (British/Irish)/ Makaton

Cultural/Language Support - Other languages spoken/ Irish Medium Setting

The creation of these additional information fields will be dependent on funding being available. it will also require childcare providers to supply the information. My officials are working in partnership with Department of Education as part of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy as this will form part of the data collection and information agenda also.

The Family SupportNI Team will also undertake a usability audit of the childcare function of the site with engagement with a range of stakeholders to inform further upgrades and development to the site.