To ask the Minister of Education when the initial list of pre-schools identified for transition to standardised hours will be announced.

To ensure the programme progresses as quickly as possible, my Department will publish details of proposed settings in tranches. The Education Authority is currently engaging with individual pre-school settings to confirm their individual state of readiness. It is the intention that this work will be completed in time for the details of the first tranche of proposed settings to be published for consultation before November 2024.

Further information on the Standardisation Programme is available on the DE website at Pre-School Education Programme - Standardisation | Department of Education (education-ni.gov.uk) and this will be updated as the programme progresses.