Debate contribution: Integrated Schools: Reasonable Numbers Criterion
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Integrated Schools: Reasonable Numbers Criterion
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685733
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for the question. That has been very much informed by the legislation and by two recent court judgements, both of which the Department was successfully able to defend. That is because we want to ensure that the integrated sector is exactly what it proclaims to be — integrated. If an integrated school is not there to ensure that a reasonable number of Protestants and Catholics attend it, what is it there for? Many schools that are not formally integrated, particularly within the controlled sector, have a higher level of diversity than some officially integrated schools, so we ought to encourage all schools to be integrated in that they are attractive to their local community and that there are no barriers to their local communities. If you want to be ascribed the official status of integrated, however, you need to comply with the legislation and those court judgements. We have provided a programme for schools in a three-year pathway to assist them on that journey but have also published what reasonable numbers would look like with regard to the question of what a new school would look like. In relation to newly established integrated schools, historically, departmental policy has been that a new integrated school should attract 30% of its pupils from the minority community in the area where the school is situated. Newly established integrated schools have generally exhibited a strong balance of pupils from both religious backgrounds. As with all proposals, though, each case must be considered on its own merits and against the statutory requirement that the school is likely to provide an integrated education.
271 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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