In 2009-10, the 10th Report from the Public Accounts Committee recommended, among other things, that the Department of Education (DE) commission research to identify which parents were not taking up the opportunity of pre-school education and the reasons for their non-participation. In response, the DE Early Years Team (EYT) and Statistics and Research Team (SRT) conducted a survey of parents who had not taken up the opportunity of pre-school education for their children and the results were reported internally in April 2011. In 2012 the Department of Education decided to update the research given the introduction of the two-staged application process and the Programme for Government 2011-15 commitment to ensure that at least one year of pre-school education is available to every family that wants it. Again the findings were reported internally. The DE has now updated the research in respect of the 2012/13 academic year. It is intended that the results of the three successive surveys will be made publically available on the Department's internet site. (author abstract)