AQW 25625/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 04/04/2025
Answered On Date: 08/04/2025
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the policy or legislation used to determine the Pupil Allocation Number for non-statutory pre-school settings.

Answer:

I would refer the member to my previous response to AQW 24601/22-27, published in the weekly answer booklet for week ending 28 March 2025.

The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (as amended) provides for a range of duties and powers for the Education Authority in relation to its role in securing pre-school education provision and providing an admissions process to access that provision. These duties and powers must be read in conjunction with other relevant duties and legislation, for example in relation to the use of public funds and specific requirements in relation to, for example, Irish medium and Integrated education.

I acknowledge that there may be ways in which the EA’s PAN allocation process could be improved. To that end, I have requested the Chief Executive of the EA to instruct his officials to carry out a full review of their PAN allocation processes and explore potential options for improvement. Proposed changes coming out of the review will be considered for inclusion within the draft Early Learning and Childcare Strategy due to be published this autumn.