Childcare identified as key priority in Programme for Government but no timeline set out for new Childcare Strategy
More than six months after the return of devolution, the Northern Ireland Executive published its Draft Programme for Government 2024-2024 ‘Our Plan: Doing What Matters Most’ on 9 September 2024. The Programme for Government (PfG) outlines the Executive’s priorities for the next three years, aiming to make a real difference to the lives of people here.
A public consultation on the PfG runs from 9 September until 4 November 2024. People are invited to respond to the consultation here.
There is a strong theme of partnership and co-operation throughout the PfG which the Executive describes as “an ambitious agenda of change in Northern Ireland”. It is made clear that there is insufficient funding for the services that are needed, and that the Executive’s ability to deliver is dependent on the availability of funds. It is centred around three missions of people, planet and prosperity as well as a cross-cutting commitment to peace.
The following nine immediate priorities are identified for this year and the duration of the mandate:
- Grow a Globally Competitive and Sustainable Economy
- Deliver More Affordable Childcare
- Cut Health Waiting Times
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
- Better Support for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs
- Provide More Social, Affordable and Sustainable Housing
- Safer Communities
- Protecting Lough Neagh and the Environment
- Reform and Transformation of Public Services
Deliver More Affordable Childcare
It is positive that the draft PfG has now been published and, critically, recognises the challenge around making childcare more affordable to support families. This is something that Employers For Childcare has campaigned for years to achieve. Childcare has rightly been recognised as a core public good, at the centre of any plan for positive change across Northern Ireland. However, there is little detail on how this broad objective will be achieved. It references the work that is already underway through the £25 million package of childcare support announced by the Education Minister, Paul Givan, in May 2024. This includes the new Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy and support for existing childcare and early years programmes such as Sure Start, Pathway and Toybox, as well as expansion of the pre-school education programme, which is expected to take up to a decade to deliver.
There’s a commitment to develop an Early Learning and Childcare Strategy with the dual aims of supporting children’s development and delivering more affordable childcare. However, there are not currently any ambitious targets set and no timescales around delivery.
SDLP publishes ‘Plan for Change’
The SDLP, which remains in Opposition, has published its own ‘Plan for Change’ which it says gives a flavour of its priorities and the targets it would work towards, proposed as an “agenda for change”. This includes a target to reduce childcare costs by 50 per cent by 2030. The SDLP calls for an ambitious Early Education and Childcare Strategy which invests in providers while guaranteeing affordability for families in order to achieve a 50% reduction in costs. The Plan for Change is similarly a high level document, which does not set out further detail on the measures that may be required to achieve the 50% target.
