Motion or amendment: Cancellation of Summer Schemes in Special Schools

Motion or amendment by Mr John Blair on 27 March 2026.

MLA: Mr John Blair
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 27 March 2026
Type: Motion or amendment
Business: Motion · Private Members' Motion
Heading: Cancellation of Summer Schemes in Special Schools
Assembly identifier: Document 478301

Read the official Assembly record Open Data source

Text

Cancellation of Summer Schemes in Special Schools
That this Assembly expresses grave concern that the Education Authority has announced the cancellation of summer schemes in special schools in 2026 due to concerns about healthcare provision for participating children; recognises that these schemes provide a lifeline for many families and that their cancellation will have devastating consequences for children with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents; condemns the failure of the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education to secure adequate nursing provision for the summer schemes when the gaps in nursing services in special schools have been apparent for a number of years; notes that a vital service is being threatened for children with special needs despite the Department of Health and the Department of Education accounting for a significant majority of the Executive’s budget; and calls on the Minister of Health and the Minister of Education to urgently work together to secure the funding and nursing provision needed to save summer scheme provision in special schools in 2026.

172 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Also tabled by

Each MLA who tabled or co-signed this item has their own record:

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying threshold.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.04	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.02	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.01	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.02	No
Controversy escalation	0.02	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.96	Yes
Overall judgement	0.04	At or below not-qualifying threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	1.00
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.00
Adopts it	0.00

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits	1.00
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00
Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9. The text was identical to an already-assessed record, so the same answers were reused.

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