To ask the Minister of Education whether any flexibility exists to transfer unallocated pre-school pupil places from undersubscribed provisions to those that are oversubscribed in the same local area.

It is a matter for the Education Authority (EA) to secure sufficient pre-school education provision in local areas to meet overall demand.

Funded places for non-statutory pre-school settings are allocated by the EA on an annual basis based on an assessment of need.

Places in statutory pre-school settings are approved via the statutory Development Proposal process and are funded under the Common Funding Scheme. The Common Funding Formula (CFF) is the Department’s mechanism for allocating budgets to schools funded through Local Management of Schools arrangements. A school’s CFF allocation is determined by both the quantum of funding available to the Aggregated Schools Budget and a combination of the school’s overall enrolment, the differentiated needs of its pupils and the school’s characteristics.

A ‘transfer’ of places between settings is therefore not possible. Unfilled pre-school places are not funded by my Department or the EA.