To ask the Minister of Education to detail how he will utilise the Partnership Agreement between Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector to support non-statutory pre-school providers.

I welcome the Partnership Agreement between Government and the Voluntary and Community Sector.

Non-statutory pre-school settings are an equally valued partner in the delivery of the Pre-School Education Programme (PSEP) and account for approximately 50% of all funded settings.

DE and the Education Authority (EA) work collaboratively with the non-statutory pre-school sector at all levels of the PSEP. Representatives of the sector are members of the EA Pre-School Education Group (EA PEG) and the Pre-School Standardisation Programme Board where they make a valued contribution to the work of the department and the EA, helping shape how pre-school provision is delivered and transformed.

Fair funding principles are a core component of the Partnership Agreement and are reflected in the Pre-School Standardisation Programme (PSP). I approved a new funding model, which includes increased funding rates for non-statutory providers participating in the Pre-School Education Programme (PSEP) in June 2025.

The model is based on the recommendations from the Standardisation of the Pre-school Education Programme: Scoping Study Final Report and is intended in line with the application of full cost recovery, to take account of all relevant costs to facilitate the approved session length for each setting, including paid release time for activities such as planning, administration and training as well as overheads such as rent, utilities and consumables. In addition, an uplift has also been applied to echo the additional pupil-related factors that are included in funding to statutory pre-school settings; while the mechanism of payment on a real-time monthly basis has been retained to account for the particular needs of the non-statutory sector in regard to prompt payment.

My officials also engage with community and voluntary representatives through the Stakeholder Engagement Forum as part of the development of the Executive Early Learning and Childcare Strategy to ensure the principles of the Partnership Agreement are evident throughout the strategy.