To ask the Minister of Education for an update on the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy.

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for her question. I will be bringing a draft strategy to my Executive colleagues for consideration in the coming weeks, and, if agreed, it will be subject to public consultation. The strategy will build on the significant investment of £80 million already allocated by the Executive, which is already making a positive difference for thousands of children, families and providers. Some of the £80 million went to the Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme, a scheme that initially helped families with preschool children but which I extended it to include school-age children from 1 September this year. That has put money in parents’ pockets with a 15% reduction on registered childcare costs and potential savings of up to 32% because it is combined with the tax-free childcare system. It is meaningful and tangible. When fees started to rise, they were offset as I acted again to increase the subsidy scheme in April by 10%, raising it to £184 per month per child, and I raised the administrative payments to providers. In addition, I have already funded the increase of 2,400 more preschool places to full time, with the provision of a free school meal for eligible children. It means that 50% of preschool places are now full time, with further increases planned for September next year. Add to that the additional funding to support children facing disadvantage via Sure Start, Pathway, Toybox and a range of programmes to support children with additional needs or disabilities. Those early actions are the foundation on which the early learning and childcare strategy will be built. I will be bringing more proposals to the Executive as part of the draft strategy to further support our children, families and the early learning and childcare sector.

Mr Givan

I am glad that the DUP is delivering for the Alliance Party and it is benefiting from the hard work of a DUP Minister. Unfortunately, that support was not available for my three children, who are beyond the age of eligibility. The Member is right. The Executive have already invested £80 million and have put in place new schemes and stood them up, all before we had a strategy. Often, Departments and Ministers spend lengthy periods developing a strategy. We got on with delivering the schemes while taking forward the development of a strategy, and that is important. The strategy needs to be fully costed, and, certainly, as I bring it forward, we will know how much its implementation will cost. It will be, however, subject to the funding that is available. That should not limit the ambition of what a comprehensive strategy should look like, but I need to caution Members that there will be reality around what funding is available to implement the strategy once it is finalised. That has not curtailed me in making sure that we have an ambitious, comprehensive strategy that will be brought to the Executive very soon.

Mrs Mason

Minister, as you said, your Department has spent over £80 million on early years support and childcare, but, according to a NISRA survey, only 26% of households say that childcare is affordable. What measures will you build into the childcare strategy to ensure that costs are kept down?

Mr Givan

The Member is absolutely right to say that the cost of childcare is a huge financial pressure that many hard-working families have to face; we hear that in all our constituencies. That funding is a start. I have a much greater level of ambition, but that ambition very much depends on the resources that we have available. The funding does not sit in my Department, as the Executive ring-fenced it to protect it from the pressures that all Departments face. Those pressures have been well documented today. Delivery of the strategy, once it has gone out to consultation and is finalised, will therefore be subject to the allocation of funding. That is a wider collective decision that will need to be taken, because the funding sits outside my Department. The Member should be assured that we have been able to make a positive impact by delivering the new schemes. Where I am empowered to do so by the wider Executive, I will continue to deliver. I agree entirely with the Member that many families struggle to meet childcare costs. The Executive have made a start, but there is much more that we need to do.

Mr Brooks

I thank the Minister for his work on childcare. It is an example of a DUP Minister delivering against DUP commitments. My question follows on from Ms Nicholl's question: how long will it be before we see the strategy implemented?

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for his comments and his question. As I indicated, I intend to publish a comprehensive implementation plan alongside the finalised strategy following the consultation process. Although the strategy is ambitious, it will, as I said, be realistic about what can be achieved, through taking account of the funding available and recognising the capacity that exists in the sector and the ability to deliver. It is important that we take those considerations into account. Ultimately, it will be for the Executive to decide how much funding they are prepared to allocate to the strategy. That will then dictate what can be achieved.

Mr McGlone

Minister, you mentioned resource issues. The Northern Ireland qualification audit highlighted some significant gaps in the early years workforce's qualifications. What concrete steps are you taking to fill that gap in order to develop what is a particularly important sector?

Mr Givan

The Member is right. As I said to Mr Brooks, as we seek to provide support, we also need to support the sector so that it can develop its capacity. We have an ambition to provide more support, but not just financial resource but human resource needs to be available in order to do that. Some funding has already been provided to the Department for Communities. Through an academy, it is helping people working in early years get qualifications and accreditations. We are therefore looking at how we can support organisations in that regard. While I have primarily led on the delivery of the strategy, other Departments are involved, and I am grateful to the Minister for Communities for stepping forward to facilitate that aspect of the plan.