AQW 33481/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 14/10/2025
Answered On Date: 22/10/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) any work (a) being undertaken; or (b) planned to be undertaken, this year under the heading Establish and deliver pilot early childhood intervention programmes in the SEN Reform Agenda and Delivery Plan 2025-2030; and (ii) what will be delivered by this project.

Answer:

The range of actions detailed under ‘Establish and deliver pilot early childhood intervention programmes’ in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Reform Agenda and Delivery Plan 2025-2030 are at different stages of operationalisation.

A number of these actions will be funded by the Public Sector Transformation Board (PSTB) funding of £27.5m over the next 4 years. Delivery of the following will commence in 2025/26: Engagement programme for parents of children with SEN age 0-4; a targeted programme for 2-3 year olds with emerging needs that will include support for parents and families; an Early Intervention and Assessment Centre approach for children aged 3-6 years; trial of in-school support to children in pre-school and foundation stage; bespoke training and development for SEN classroom assistants; and an Inclusive Play Programme.

One of the actions ‘Address inequalities between statutory and non-statutory pre-school providers’ access to EPS and SEN support services’ requires significant additional investment; a bid for funding has been made.

The final action under this theme ‘Resource pre-school education settings to support children undergoing statutory assessment’ was implemented in November 2024 with the establishment of the Pre-school Education Inclusion Support Fund (PSEISF). This has delivered over £1m of funding support to pre-school education settings to date and will continue in 2025/26.