Debate contribution: Childcare Providers: Funding

Debate contribution by Mr Conor Murphy on 21 January 2025.

MLA: Mr Conor Murphy
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 21 January 2025
Type: Debate contribution (made as a minister)
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Childcare Providers: Funding
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4749621

Text

Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion. Although the Department of Education leads on childcare, it is a priority for the Executive as a whole. When setting the Budget for this financial year, the Executive earmarked an additional £25 million for childcare. As part of June monitoring, £25 million was allocated in full to the Department of Education. The claim that my Department was allocated £2 million is absolutely false. Although the Education Minister was in receipt of the full £25 million to fund childcare, I prioritised childcare in my Department and allocated £740,000 from my existing baseline to support pathways into the childcare sector. If the Member who proposed the motion had asked for an update since February, she would have been aware of that. As a matter of fact, I publicly launched the scheme and the courses in the Met last summer. My officials are also working with our six further education colleges to develop childcare microcourses for future delivery. I also offered to assist Minister Givan's Department as required. On 22 July, he wrote to me and the Health Minister asking us to assist with his Department's targeted business support scheme for childcare providers. On 1 August, I responded to Minister Givan and offered the assistance of a number of officials from my Department and Invest NI. Minister Nesbitt also provided a supportive response. The working group, comprising the Department of Education, the Department for the Economy and the Department of Health, first met on 30 August. The group identified the need to better understand the business models for childcare, what type of support is needed to ensure the sector's financial viability and how support should be targeted. Given my Department's business expertise, we volunteered to take that work forward. The research was scoped out and agreed by the group on 9 October, and, as part of the October monitoring round, the Department of Education transferred £153,000 to my Department to fund that research. The Department of Finance's innovation and consultancy services (ICS) was appointed to take forward the research, which got under way on 21 October. Consultations have taken place with a cross section of stakeholder organisations and 15 representative organisations in the childcare and wider sectors. More detailed consultations with individual childcare providers and parents are taking place this month and into February. The group agreed that the research would conclude in March 2025. The work is on schedule; there has been no delay. Childcare is an excellent example of various Departments coming together to deliver for our people. Officials in Invest NI, the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance have done a terrific job, and I commend them all. It would be understandable and, perhaps, acceptable for the Executive to be subject to criticism when we are not cohesive or are not working collaboratively, particularly on priorities that we have announced and set ourselves and for which we have secured support from all the parties in the Assembly. In this case, we are working collaboratively and very well together. I have no idea as to why the DUP wants to suggest otherwise. I will continue to support Minister Givan in that important work. A number of points were made in contributions. Both the Alliance Members who spoke referenced the 'good jobs' Bill and flexible working. The 'good jobs' Bill is open to further suggestions from, and consideration by, Committee members in particular and other Members. The Bill looks at the issue of flexible working, but at every meeting that we have had with employers, we have made a point of talking to them about the need for them to be flexible, particularly in relation to women who are returning to the workforce, and to offer people arrangements that entice them back to the workforce and give them the support that they need to continue with their caring responsibilities, be they mothers or other people with caring responsibilities. I assure Michelle Guy that there are no issues with that. Most people are a bit bewildered as to why the Members across the way tabled the motion, but there are certainly no issues with that or with our work on the post-19 issue, with the Department of Education on the careers issue or with other Departments on a range of issues. No tensions or obstacles have been placed in the way of any of that work, and I hope that that continues to be the case, because the issues are much more important than party political exchanges across the Chamber. We will continue to work in that manner. I very much welcome, first, the prioritisation that the Executive gave to this important area and the fact that officials, Departments and Ministers have got down to working together to deliver. We must do more, we must do it quicker and we must do it better. We are all committed to doing so, but there are many points to be debated on the issue. When Mr Martin responded to Cathy Mason, he missed the point completely.

858 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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