§ Rev. William McCreaTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much the Department of Health spends on child care; on what provision this sum is spent; and how many children receive the child care.
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§ Mr. AncramThe Department of Health and Social Services encourages the development of child care by grant aiding regional voluntary child care organisations in Northern Ireland. In the current financial year, over £241,000 is being provided. That is in addition to the support that health and social services boards provide to local day care projects, which in 1991–92, the latest year for which the information is available, amounted to £1,598,000. In that year, boards also spent £148,000 on family day centres, although those do not cater exclusively for parents with young children. In January 1994, the Department also allocated £310,000 to the health and social services boards on a once-only basis in support of local initiatives in the child care sector.
Details of the forms of provision and number of places available, as at 31 March 1993, are as follows:
Type Places available Pre-school playgroups 14,742 Day nurseries 2,080 Childminders 13,492 Total 30,314