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Mr Paul Givan: Assembly records
All of Mr Paul Givan’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I am always happy to give way, and I will continue to give way, even though Mr Baker did not do so. Let me jump straight to Mr Baker's comment. He said, "If you want to get your £7 million, take it off your mobile phone pouches. There it is". Some £200,000 in capital expenditure: that is how much was spent on mobile…
I am disappointed that Mr Baker could not give way to my colleague. I gave way to him on not one but at least two occasions. That is a matter for Mr Baker.
I appreciate the Member's giving way. He will know about the anti-poverty strategy introduced by the Minister for Communities that his party colleague and I have fed into. I certainly did so on the role and input that Education could have. The Chairman of the Committee indicated that he wants the Executive to pull…
I beg to move amendment No 1: In moving amendment No 1, I will also speak to amendment No 2 and amendment Nos 5 to 14. I will also refer to amendment Nos 3 and 4, which have been tabled by the Chair of the Education Committee. I will make my comments under three headings. The first is redrafting amendments, which…
The consultation for all of the curriculum has been out, and we are working through the responses. I am more than happy to assure the Member that, where the responses have highlighted issues that we need to address, all of those issues will be seriously looked at before a final curriculum is brought forward.
The EA has a desire to have greater use of its facilities by communities. Part of the change around youth work and something of which I have been supportive is having a greater role for the community and voluntary sector. There should be statutory involvement only when the community and voluntary sector is unable to…
I have met various youth organisations. They had relayed their concerns with the existing way in which that was being operated by the Education Authority. That is why we had a prolonged period of consultation and engagement taken forward by the EA. That has led to changes to the youth framework in that respect that…
I do not disagree with the Member. In terms of the ability to effect real change in society, education is the biggest driver that will help with those outcomes. So many people passionately believe in education because it is often the way in which someone can work their way out of challenging circumstances. Many issues…
It is why we have embarked on the transformation of our education system in terms of academic achievement. I have made it clear that there is disadvantage in our society: there are those who have more opportunity and those who come from a more disadvantaged background. It is too easy for that to be determined as being…
Yes. We have had assurances around the EA supporting the school, but, as I said in my response, it is not a satisfactory arrangement. The cause is the lack of investment in routine maintenance across our school estate. Unfortunately, it is not the only school in which that has happened: another school in Londonderry…
I am aware of the situation and thank Mr Stewart for raising it with me. Ms Brownlee has also raised it directly and personally with me on a number of occasions. In addition, I met some of the teachers from the school, who raised it directly with me. The Education Authority has engaged with the school. I know that the…
The Member has raised a number of points. He will have access to the correspondence that I sent to the Committee Chair. I made it clear that officials should go to the Committee to answer questions on matters that pertain to their areas of responsibility. I also made it clear that they are not there to be subjected to…
The Member will know that I am making myself available to the Committee. The Committee has sought me to come before it, and we will put a date for that in the diary. I will attend the Committee in due course, when we have the date agreed. There will be no breach of the ministerial code in that respect. I am pleased to…
There has been correspondence, and various interested parties have made representations on the issue. We have responded to that. Ultimately, CCEA took this decision about what qualifications to make available. Few pupils take German through CCEA, which means that, when it comes to marking and grading, there is a small…
I thank the Member for that question. CCEA took that decision as an awarding body. It provides the overwhelming majority of qualifications in Northern Ireland, but it reviewed the suite of qualifications that it provides, and German was one that it decided to remove. We operate an open qualifications framework in…
Like the Member, I found that the changes were welcomed in my constituency. I am not surprised by that, given the number of parents who were often deeply frustrated that their child was discriminated against. The SDC criterion was established in 1998 to maximise access to funded preschool places for children from…
The strategy will build on what we have already implemented. I want to do more. We were able to expand Sure Start, for example, by making the temporary areas permanent. We also have been able to allow referrals to Sure Start settings from outside the identified catchment areas. I have been to a number of settings, as,…
I think that it is question 7. Current legislation requires all statutory preschool settings to admit penultimate-age children who apply for a funded preschool education place if they still have places remaining after all target-age applicants have been considered. Research is clear that preschool education is not…
Mrs Cameron is absolutely right. It goes to the heart of why I am seeking to make the change that I want to make and why there is now a consultation process under way. The core principle should be parental preference. I have highlighted a number of caveats, albeit in a limited form. For example, there should not be an…
On 16 September, I launched a public consultation on the proposals to reform the temporary variation policy. The consultation seeks views on a more flexible approach to school admissions that places greater emphasis on parental preference. The proposals recognise that parents often choose an individual school rather…
I agree with Mr Sheehan on this occasion, because he is right. If young people fall behind in the early years, and if there is no intervention, it is very challenging for them to be able to catch up. We therefore need to assess fundamentally what has gone on in those early years. Setting aside the PISA results, CCEA's…
Being able to get data is hugely important to inform the education system on how we are performing. We had the PISA, which was a snapshot of a representative sample, but, for the first time in more than 20 years, we also had data for children across Northern Ireland in all of our schools. That was published last week.…
I thank Mr Kingston for the question. I welcome the latest programme for international student assessment, commonly known as "PISA", results for Northern Ireland. International studies such as PISA provide essential insights on our system’s strengths and highlight opportunities to learn from approaches that are used…