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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 flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I wish to update the House on support arrangements for controlled schools. The controlled schools sector is the largest such sector in Northern Ireland, comprising 49% of all schools. It is a particularly diverse sector, supporting nursery, special, primary, secondary, grammar, integrated and Irish-medium schools and…
I assure the Member that I have engaged with the Minister of Health on those issues. We have met the Member's party colleagues about special schools, but I have also engaged with the Minister separately. We have a joint Health and Education oversight group that will assist in how we develop that work. That group is…
I thank the Member for that question. I spoke on the need to make sure that we have the appropriate allied health professions aligned to those impact teams that are being set up. That will require the Department of Health to work with us to make sure that we can provide that support. Again, it is about making sure…
Absolutely, I will do that. It is as a result of the positive relationship that we have developed with the trade unions that the pay and grading review was carried out. That was a significant piece of work requiring tens of millions of pounds to implement, and the Finance Minister worked with me so that we could…
I absolutely agree with the Member. They are deeply valued. I suspect that the question goes back to the statement that I made on the reform of special educational needs. I outlined clearly that principals whom I meet have said, "I can support our children and young people in a more effective manner that is beneficial…
I thank the Member for that, and I encourage him and other Members to continue to ask those challenging questions of all our public bodies around efficiency, because I ask the questions of all my arm's-length bodies that are accountable to my Department. Please continue to ask those questions. The Education Authority…
The Education Authority landscape review, which was published in June 2022, gave a comprehensive review of EA's overall operation and governance and the extent to which it effectively delivered against the Executive and departmental priorities when it was established in April 2015. That included an assessment of the…
I thank the Member for the opportunity to continue, because I was running out of time. We have also commissioned NISRA, which is undertaking a major household survey. That will provide us with information through data that has been collected from the childcare subsidy. That will inform our next steps as we develop the…
I thank the Member for this opportunity because, whilst I could not take part in the debate earlier, I sat in for a good hour. It is useful for Members to be reminded of the significant work that the Department and my party have driven forward in the past year. When we took up office, we secured £25 million of…
I thank the Member for the invitation to speak to children. I say this to them: schools are a great opportunity for you to develop socially and educationally. We will be there to support you to overcome the barriers that you may have for not wanting to be at school. They can be varied, but support is there. A huge…
I do not have the precise figures, but the Member highlights an issue that is of concern and on which we are proactively engaging. If you are not in school, you are not able to gain the benefits of that educational environment. Driving up attendance rates is an important issue for us. The situation has been…
I thank the Member for that, because he is right: making sure that the teaching profession and support staff have the confidence to know how to react in certain situations is important. We are reviewing the medication in schools guidance to make sure that it is as up to date as possible and that there is support in…
I thank the Member for raising the issue. Through the census return of 2022-23, we were able to identify that just over 3,000 children were recorded as having anaphylaxis as a medical condition. Her constituent is an example of the 3,000 children in a similar position. There is already provision of departmental…
The Education Authority's special educational needs inclusion service medical needs team operates a central point of contact for schools and parents who have questions around the inclusion of children with medical needs, including those with allergies and anaphylaxis. The Education Authority advises that, in many…
I outlined the process for area planning. It is critical that the managing authorities look at that kind of information and plan for and address what the needs will be in their community. They must also look at the particular sectors to make sure that provide parental choice in that regard. I responded to an…
I am happy to speak on that, Mr Speaker. I thank the Member for the work that she does to represent her constituents. I understand that such decisions can be difficult. A number of decisions were taken last week that caused controversy, and a lot of views were expressed on them. Amongst those, I closed schools, one of…
That is a valid point. I know about that from my constituency, where there are two grammar schools that are heavily oversubscribed, so that often people are not able to get into the school of their choice, which, at times, creates frustration. The issue that the Member has articulated in relation to South Belfast is…
Area planning is the process of strategic planning of primary and post-primary education provision. The process has been developed to support the implementation of the sustainable schools policy. The Department requires the statutory planning authorities — the Education Authority and the Council for Catholic…
I am not aware of salary being an issue in attracting people to Irish-medium schools. There is an issue with how we make sure that people who are qualified and proficient in the Irish language are able to deliver education through that medium. The Department recognises that that is a particular issue for Irish-medium…
I thank the Member for that question. Every year, we seek to review and reach a settlement on pay. A short time after the Executive's restoration, teachers' pay increased by over 10%. That was backdated. We resolved the industrial action by our support staff and delivered a significant increase in their pay. We review…
We are incredibly fortunate in this country: teaching is a valued profession here and we have high levels of application to all our initial teacher training colleges. As an Executive, we want to attract the brightest and best to the profession. I and the Executive support that position. Northern Ireland negotiates…
I thank the Member for that question. Three of the four unions balloted purely on the pay issue, but one union included issues to do with workload. My original response highlighted issues to do with workload, including commitments that were made and work streams that we have been taking forward. A timetable for the…
I agree with the Member on the hugely important contribution that our teaching staff and support staff make. That is why, when the institutions were restored, the Executive prioritised them. The Finance Minister made funding available, and I worked with the unions to negotiate a pay settlement that resolved a…
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 4 and 8 together. Through the Teachers' Negotiating Committee (TNC), a joint pay group is operational, and meetings are taking place with employers, sectoral support bodies and the recognised teaching trade unions — represented by the Northern Ireland Teachers'…
My immediate priority is to make sure that that work is carried out. It causes me concern that nearly £1 million was spent in 2015 and we now have issues around the suitability of what was purchased within the past 10 years. That is not a satisfactory position to be in. I know that legal opinion, including from the…