NICMA urges faster progress on childcare

NICMA – the Childminding Association has urged theNorthern IrelandExecutive to prioritise progress on the childcare strategy promised in its Draft Programme for Government.

The Draft Programme commits the Executive to implement a childcare strategy and renews a promise made in the Executive’s Budget 2011-15 to invest £3m annually on childcare for the next four years.

Bridget Nodder, NICMA’s Director, said her charity welcomed these commitments but was concerned at the slow rate of progress on developing a childcare strategy and making investment decisions.

“We are delighted that the Draft Programme for Government recognises the importance of childcare provision in meeting the Executive’s economic objectives,” she said.

“However, we would like to see early progress on developing a childcare strategy which was originally promised some time ago.

“We’re also concerned that the Executive has yet to determine how it is going to spend the £3m it allocated for childcare during this current financial year.”

Recently, the Health Minister, Edwin Poots, commended NICMA’s own proposals for improving childminding provision when he spoke at the launch of the charity’s policy document, The Way Forward for Childminding.

However, no decision has yet been taken on how the promised childcare funding should be invested, nor has the Executive yet produced a draft strategy.

NICMA believes that any childcare strategy must address the specific issues within the childminding sector, including delays experienced by new childminders in getting registered, the need for improved access to training, and the prevalence of illegal, unregistered childminders.

Editors’ notes:

1. NICMA – the Childminding Association is a charity, and is the sole organisation representing childminders in Northern Ireland. 66% of registered childminders here are members. For more details about NICMA, please go to: www.nicma.org