To ask the Minister of Education what consideration his Department has given for a statutory priority criterion for parents applying for pre-school places, who are medically disadvantaged and/or are in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance only.

Pre-school education, whilst non-compulsory, is an important phase of early education. If a pre-school setting, either statutory or non-statutory, is over-subscribed, it will apply the published admissions criteria in order of priority.

Pre-school education providers set the admissions criteria. However, research has shown that children from socially disadvantaged circumstances tend to experience more difficulty at school than other children; therefore, the Department requires that they are given priority within the pre-school admissions process as part of wider efforts to tackle educational underachievement.

Currently children from socially disadvantaged circumstances are defined as children whose parents are in receipt of Income Support, Income-based Jobseekers Allowance or Employment Support Allowance where an award of Income-based Jobseekers Allowance has been converted and the amount of the award remains unchanged.

Given changes to qualifying benefits with the introduction of Universal Credit, I plan to review the priority criterion, and will consider a range of issues in determining what changes are required. Any proposed changes will be subject to consultation.