Debate contribution: Major Capital Works Programme
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 2 December 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Major Capital Works Programme
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4686814
Read the official Assembly record
Text
St Brigid's College was one of 28 schools announced under the major capital works programme in March 2022. The schools were scored and ranked using the published major works protocol, which examines the condition and suitability of the buildings, as well as other factors, such as levels of deprivation. All school projects from the 2022 announcement were paused in April 2023 by the then permanent secretary owing to the extremely difficult budget position. No planning had been started for those projects. When I responded to the previous question, I detailed how, in February this year, I had announced that seven of the highest-scoring schools from 2022's announcement would proceed to the procurement of integrated consultancy teams. That will ensure a flow of projects into the early stages of development and design. Unfortunately, St Brigid's College was not amongst those highest-scoring projects. All 21 remaining projects from that 2022 announcement remain at that paused stage due to the difficult overall capital budget, which, regrettably, does not permit me to progress a further 21 new-build post-primary schools. For the House's benefit, on average, it is projected that each post-primary school costs in the region of £50 million, so I absolutely understand the frustration. I would love to see funding being made available so that I could take forward all those new schools, but there simply is not the funding there to do that. It would be wrong of me to give false hope that schools will get a new build any time soon when the funding is not available. Currently, there is a pipeline of work that will take decades to deliver. In the interim, how do we support schools to make sure that their facilities are able to meet needs and deliver the curriculum? I am more than happy to engage with the Member on the particular school that he has highlighted to me, as I seek to engage with all Members.
321 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.77).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging 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
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.77 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| 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 | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.66 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.18 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.15 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.01 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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