Member's statement: Childcare
Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on .
- MLA
- Ms Diane Forsythe
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 11 November 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Childcare
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4667061
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Delivering more affordable childcare has long been a priority for the DUP. Within seven months of devolution being restored, our Education Minister designed a scheme to slash childcare bills by 15%. The latest figures that I have received show that 13,294 children have been registered for the Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme, with parents saving £1 million every month. That is additional money that is remaining in the household budgets of working parents in every part of Northern Ireland. I stood for election to the House in 2022 on the DUP manifesto commitment to help working families and deliver on childcare, and I am proud to see real progress on it. In the range of schemes, the Education Minister delivered on securing the Sure Start provision. That is a successful partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Health that delivers the best early intervention outcomes for children in Northern Ireland. The Education Minister has also expended our preschool provision as a commitment to ensuring fair access to preschool provision for all children across Northern Ireland so that they have the best start in life. We now see 96% of all registered daycare providers set up and registered to provide the childcare subsidy scheme. Significant numbers of childminders and play groups are also included. We want to make further progress to make the childcare sector more sustainable. We have identified a problem and practical measures to help. That is our focus across government: staying committed to our election manifesto, delivering for working families and delivering on childcare.
259 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.62).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.62 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.91 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.03 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.02 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.02 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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