The White Paper on early childhood education, Ready to Learn, sets out a comprehensive strategy for the development of early childhood education for all children aged from birth to six years. Following the publication of the White Paper, my Department carried out an extensive post-consultation process with all of those who made presentations to the National Forum for Early Childhood Education. The aim of these consultations was to seek the views of interested parties with regard to the implementation of the policies set out in the White Paper, on a phased basis, and to enable the necessary planning and preparatory work for implementation to be undertaken by my Department in line with the commitments in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.