Debate contribution: Education Infrastructure: Sustainable Investment

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 12 February 2024.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

12 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

Education Infrastructure: Sustainable Investment

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4217748

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Member for her comments. She raises a number of issues, and I will take the last one first. I will give her a detailed response on that by way of a written reply. Being better sighted by working with other Departments to identify children who emerge with special educational needs is important. Last year, there seemed to be a lack of awareness of what would be required. I have already been asking the question: how did that arise? Surely, there would have been a way to identify children who need that support within the education system and outside it. Health workers will also have been aware of children who may require that support. Therefore, I am asking why what happened last year was the case. Rather than us being reactive around such issues, it is about being proactive and identifying at an early stage the need that exists, and we then need to plan how we will meet that. At the moment, we are unable to meet the need that is there. We need to get to the point where we can meet the need but then also get on the front foot so that we are much more prepared. That is why part of the capital bid around special education is to make sure that we can create the necessary capacity to do that. In respect of what opportunities there are, particularly, for example, with local government, the Member is right. We can all point to schemes in our constituencies where there is a partnership arrangement between the Education Authority and local government through shared facilities. I have them in my constituency, and I am sure that others will be able to highlight similar schemes. Therefore, as part of the planning process and area planning, there is an opportunity, which I certainly want the Department of Education to engage in, to ask, "Is this a shared facility that can be used not just by Education but by other Departments?". Obviously, we need to make sure that a framework exists to do that. It may be that, in developing schemes, we can also find a way to incentivise that kind of partnership, because it makes better sense to utilise the collective resources that are available for the wider community.

I thank the Member for her remarks and for rightly championing her constituency of East Antrim and the need for that school to progress. I will write to each of those schools later this afternoon about the next phase of the project. That is to allow the integrated consultancy team to be put in place, which then can take forward the various processes that are necessary to get a school to the stage at which, subject to finance, we can enter into contracts and construction can commence. It will take a number of years before we can get to that stage, but it is important for me that they are available and that they come online so that, when I make the case for the necessary capital budget, if it is delivered, we are able to be shovel-ready for those projects. That is the basis on which I will proceed for those schools.

I thank the Member for her question. That is exactly why I am making the case for an increased capital budget. The Department has been focused almost entirely on urgent repairs and the special educational needs provision that needs to exist, and, therefore, the backlog in routine maintenance has continued to increase and increase to the point that so many schools are in a bad state of repair and only emergency repairs for health and safety reasons can be carried out. Hence, there is the need to support my capital bid to the Department of Finance. I welcome the Member's support for that. She highlights the maintenance issues that need to be addressed. I can address those only when I get support from the wider Executive to give me the budget that allows me to do it.

I thank the Member for raising that issue. At present, the first tranche of seven projects will be sufficient to begin the flow of projects into early planning. Should I obtain additional funding for next year, I will review the position of the other projects that were announced in 2022. I am aware that Dean Maguirc College in Carrickmore scored well on the prioritised list of the schools that were announced in 2022. However, due to ongoing discussions on the agreement of a future approved enrolment for the school, it was agreed with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) that the project would not progress to procurement until those matters were resolved.

I thank the Member for the question. The Member raises an issue that needs to be addressed with regard to that normalisation process, where schools have an official enrolment figure but many often operate at a much higher level. Some may be operating at a lower level. Typically, those capital development schemes are based on the official enrolment level. There has been work to normalise the figures across various schools. My officials are finalising that, with recommendations to come to me so that I can complete it. The Member raises the issue in respect of Markethill High School. I know that it is a particular interest of the deputy First Minister, as a former pupil of the school. I know that she will support me, as, I have no doubt, will colleagues around the Executive table, to get the capital resources into the Department that will allow me to make progress on a lot of the schools estate. When I know what capital I can deal with, I will, of course, be able to consider the need that exists in other schools across the estate.

The Member is aware — indeed all Members are aware — of the process that we have to go through in considering development proposals, including for school closures. The approach that needs to be taken is clearly defined. Departmental officials will bring to me, in due course and at the appropriate time, any such proposals.

I am happy to work with the Member who raises the issue. I said in my statement that we need to have a curriculum-led capital development project so that, where schools do not have a sports hall or need provision to deliver aspects of the curriculum, we can find a way to make provision for that. I have made a capital bid to the Department of Finance to enable me to do that.

I thank the Member for his question. In the statement, I indicated that there are schools that get brand-new facilities and can deliver the educational curriculum in world-class facilities, but there are others that have to make do and mend. That is not acceptable, and it needs to change. That is why I made the statement and am putting forward a capital bid of £528 million to the Department of Finance. That is hundreds of millions of pounds more than what the Department of Education has ever received, but it is absolutely necessary if we are to deliver the vision that we have for the next generation.

The Department has now had to put its resource into those most basic needs that the Member for Foyle raises. We need to move beyond the point of putting sticking plasters over sticking plasters when it comes to capital spend. I trust that Members will continue to support me in securing the necessary resources from the Department of Finance.

I thank the Member for her remarks. Obviously, as the pause is lifted, the seven projects announced today are on the basis of identified need and the Department's prioritisation. I made the point earlier that, of 102 schools announced since 2012, only 35 have been completed. There are 70 schools in the same position as the two mentioned by the Member. Then, there is the totality of the capital schemes that we need to address, as I outlined in my statement. It is hugely challenging to deliver finance for what we want to deliver, but I am happy to write to the Member in respect of the specific schools that she has raised.

I thank the Member for his comments. He highlights two schools in his constituency that are at a much more advanced state of readiness. In the event of capital being made available, further progress can be made to take those schemes forward. He is right, and I know that the Speaker campaigned for Dromore High School for a long time. A new build is very much needed, and today's announcement allows an ICT team to be put in place to continue the progress of planning towards it. I have outlined the capital pressures, and we need to bear that in mind when it comes to expectations, but I have outlined the context in which those decisions have been taken and the capital needs that exist.

I thank the Member for her remarks and her question. In my statement, I outlined my views on Strule and the opportunity in respect of it. Moneys that were ring-fenced for Fresh Start — £150 million towards shared and integrated education — are no longer ring-fenced. The £3·3 billion that the UK Government announced rolled in the moneys that were part of Fresh Start. That is no longer ring-fenced, and I need to make the case — I will do so urgently to the Executive — that funding needs to be approved to allow a full business case that will provide us with the costs and benefits associated with it. That process will be carried out to allow a decision to be taken to go into contractual arrangements. We have a contractor in place, and I will be making the case to the Executive that what was previously ring-fenced for shared and integrated education needs to be reinstated as a matter of urgency for my Department. This impacts not just on Strule but on other shared and integrated education programmes that had been part of the original £500 million that had been announced by the NIO.

I thank the Member for that question. On the value for money point, the full business case is being prepared, and that will evaluate all the benefits and costs of the programme in full. This project has been in planning for over 15 years, and those schools have been waiting for new accommodation throughout that time. The five schools in Omagh all have serious and significant accommodation deficiencies, and the need for investment in new facilities has been clearly established by my Department's professional advisers and across two outline business cases. Condition surveys of all five schools undertaken in June 2023 indicate that the value of backlog maintenance alone in the schools is now around £12 million. If Strule does not proceed and funding is not ring-fenced for that important programme, it will be many years before any of the schools will receive capital investment. They would be back to the beginning in respect of planning for any new accommodation. As an Executive, we will wish to honour previous commitments to those schools and to the wider Omagh community.

I thank the Member for that question. Yes, I am more than happy to engage with him and the Member of Parliament for East Belfast around the need for this additional funding because, in this wider context, both schools provide for special educational needs. That is a priority for capital spend, but significant investment is required immediately, and that needs to be sustained into the future. That is for not only planned maintenance but digital infrastructure, specialist curriculum facilities, pitches, outdoor play spaces and everyday equipment for teaching and learning, and to provide those SEN placements.

I thank the Member for his comments. He highlights the issue that I have been engaging with already, which is that, in delivering the curriculum, some pupils who do not have a sports hall for PE then have to be bussed to somewhere that can provide that and meets the needs of the curriculum. That eats up valuable time during the education day, and it also requires transport to be provided. None of that is conducive to delivering the kind of curriculum that they need. Where schools have multiple sites, that is a challenge, and that is why I am making the bid for the capital funding for our Department. We can then try to drive forward a curriculum-led development scheme.

I agree entirely with the Member for North Antrim on the point that he is making. It is indicative of the dire state that we have got ourselves into that we are unable to do this kind of planned maintenance because we literally are trying to keep schools open. Emergency repairs are now what is necessary as is providing the placements for special educational needs. On the school that the Member highlights, his point is valid, but the contrast of that school with Glenwood Primary School on the Shankill Road is like night and day when considering the fabric of the buildings and the environment in which we are trying to teach children. I want to be able to address a planned maintenance scheme, a school enhancement programme and curriculum-led capital development as well as major capital projects and ICT upgrades. I want to be able to take forward all the issues that I have mentioned. The challenge to everybody in this House and to my Executive colleagues is to provide the resources that are necessary to meet the needs of our children and young people.

I made reference to this point earlier in reply to a Member for Foyle. Every school will be treated fairly and equitably for the time in which I am Minister of Education. That is the approach that I will take. The provision that is required will be based on need. The Member can be assured on the approach that I will be taking on this issue.

2,346 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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