§ 7. Charlotte Atkins (Staffordshire, Moorlands)What progress has been made in the last year in the provision of early years education in Northern Ireland. [84444]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. John McFall)Over the past year, significant progress has been made towards increasing the availability of pre-school education in Northern Ireland. In the 1998–99 school year, 2,200 additional places have been provided at a cost of £2.65 million. Resources have been made available in 1999–2000 to secure a further 2,300 free pre-school places, raising provision to almost 70 per cent. of the pre-school cohort.
§ Charlotte AtkinsDoes my hon. Friend agree that the crucial aspects of effective pre-school education must be quality of provision and access for the most disadvantaged? What are the Government doing to ensure that those features are key in Northern Ireland?
§ Mr. McFallI thank my hon. Friend for her question. Access for the disadvantaged was worked into our pre-school education policy in the 1997 consultation document. She is right about quality and I should like to reassure her on four points. First, there will be a common curriculum in all settings. Secondly, nurseries will be inspected by education and training staff. Thirdly, the staff will be required to have training or qualifications in education or child care. Fourthly, from 1999–2000 there must be a qualified early years specialist involved in a way that will raise standards for children in those schools.
§ Mr. Roy Beggs (East Antrim)We in Northern Ireland congratulate the Government on the additional resources 342 that are being made available and the additional places that have been created for nursery school children. To what extent have the concerns of parents about the application of the criteria for entrance to nursery schools been met? Will the Minister undertake to ensure that new funding for future provision goes to the areas where there is currently clearly under–provision?
§ Mr. McFallI thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. There have been some misconceptions about the issues. To deal with that, I established an advisory group comprising officials from my Department and the education and library boards. I have told them to keep in constant contact with Assembly representatives and Members of Parliament. We have targeted social disadvantage. From September, two out of every three places will be available to children of parents who are not disadvantaged, but there will be an allocation for the disadvantaged. I know that the hon. Gentleman will welcome those measures on social disadvantage for some parts of his constituency.