AQW 28132/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 04/06/2025
Answered On Date: 09/06/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education, further to the judgement outlined in JR SCO12735, to outline whether he will ensure that a Rural Needs Impact Assessment will be carried out for any new policy or plan arising from the Education Authority review of Published Admission Number allocations by the Pre-School Education Group.

Answer:

The Education Authority (EA) has completed the review that I requested to be carried out of its processes for the allocation of funded pre-school education places to non-statutory pre-school education providers and submitted their draft report to me for consideration. The EA has confirmed that any changes to the PAN allocation process arising from it will, as necessary, be subject to equality, rural and other relevant assessments.