Debate contribution: Schools: Improved Procurement Practices

Debate contribution by Mrs Michelle Guy on 25 February 2025.

MLA

Mrs Michelle Guy

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

25 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Schools: Improved Procurement Practices

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4815449

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is fair to say that we are having a wee bit of a déjà vu moment after the Adjournment debate last week, but that debate was welcome, and it was helpful to hear from the Minister in advance of today's debate and to learn about the EA work that is already under way. We welcome the motion and will support it along with the DUP amendment. The motion is narrow in scope, and it is clear from the 2024 Audit Office report that we need to have a much wider and more in-depth debate about the entire school estate, including minor and major capital works and school maintenance. It is a regrettable fact that our school estate is not in good shape. I am confident that every Member who is here has heard from a school leader who is frustrated at the quality of the accommodation in which their students are expected to learn while facing constraints on their options to procure services. Ultimately, school leaders want a common-sense and agile approach to procurement that ensures value for money. Given the pressure on school budgets, that is especially important. In his response to last week's Adjournment debate, the Minister spoke about a new delivery model for maintenance procurement, which shows that the Department has listened to our school leaders. The model described offers hope of a more responsive service for schools, with improved mechanisms to monitor costs and poor contractor performance. Additional detail from the Minister today would be really welcome to give school leaders confidence that, after waiting several years for completion of new procurement contracts, the new approach will deliver the substantial change to the system that is badly needed. We all recognise that there is a delicate balance to be struck between flexibility and accountability.

We want schools to be trusted with a level of flexibility to quickly procure low-value services but with clear and uncomplicated accountability guidelines. Schools do not have time for complicated processes. They have a much more important job to do that they need to focus on, and that is educating our children and young people.

Outside of the many examples provided today of schools paying over the odds for routine, small-scale maintenance and spending, schools have raised with me frustration at the pressure placed on them in schemes such as the outdoor learning project, which, I appreciate, is slightly outside the scope of the debate but is linked. Guidance for schools was issued in February, with schools required to order and take receipt of goods by the end of March. A number of school leaders told me of their frustration at being placed under pressure to spend money on particular items when they had essential maintenance that needed to be completed. One school leader said, "All the schools are trying to purchase the same items at the same time from a limited pool of EA suppliers, and this is pushing up the costs." This is another example of how the current EA framework approach works against schools rather than with them. I welcome whatever detail the Minister can provide today, although I am concerned that the changes described are a far cry from the strategic approach to estates management recommended by the audit report and the independent review of education. In short, our education system is simply too complicated. We cannot keep tinkering around the edges. The need for an improved budget settlement is a case that we are all unified in making. Our public services are underfunded, but it is equally imperative that Minister and Department are able to demonstrate that they are using limited resources efficiently and are up for the necessary transformational change. It will take courage, but we simply cannot afford to sustain the level of complexity and disparity in how our schools are funded and supported. I hope that the measures that the Minister has outlined are successful, and I recognise the work that has been already carried out by the EA. However, I urge the Minister to go further in our schools estate management. When the ultimate objective is to give all our children a great education and resources are as scarce as they are, difficult decisions are needed to ensure that we have a sustainable school estate. I fear that this is not the trajectory that we are on.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:02 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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