Debate contribution: Childcare Sector: Support
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 24 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Childcare Sector: Support
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4813636
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her question, and I agree with a lot of what she has said. Childcare is critical economic infrastructure in addressing the challenges of gender equality. It is also crucial for child development, so it is really important that we get it right. Rightly, it is a priority for the Minister of Education as well as for me. As I mentioned, it is a priority for the Executive as a whole, and that is reflected in the Programme for Government. It is important that we get it right, and that is why research is being undertaken to ensure that we get the correct support to the sector. The Member also referred to challenges in the coming weeks. For example, the impact of increases in employers' National Insurance contributions will hit all businesses, and many of our childcare providers that already have small margins will be hit. That is why, when I was Minister of Finance, I commissioned research on the costs of doing business. Both of those pieces of research are due to report in March, so we will have a good evidence base for what comes next in terms of interventions.
196 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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