Debate contribution: Special Educational Needs: Crisis in Provision

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 8 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

8 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Special Educational Needs: Crisis in Provision

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5068876

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Thank you, Members, for bringing the motion forward and for providing the opportunity to respond to myriad issues relating to the provision for children with special educational needs. Members' contributions have reflected the different aspects that we need to consider. First, I commend Jon Burrows on his maiden speech and welcome him to the Assembly and to the Education Committee. I know that that will be the first of many contributions by him on education, and I look forward to working with him on the Committee. I commend him absolutely for his public service during a very difficult period, which he reflected in his speech. Having to move home on no fewer than 10 occasions is appalling for anybody, but it was done in the service of others and for the greater good of our society. We commend you for that service, and for the desire to continue public service in your new role in the Assembly. We look forward to working with you in the days and months ahead. Having spoken to families, teachers, classroom assistants and pupils in many educational settings, I know the anguish that they feel about this issue, and the needs that they feel need to be met. As a responsible group of legislators, we all want do more. I think that everybody in the Chamber wants to do more. I listen to contributions from others and understand the frustration that people can have, but, at times, there can be an attempt to dehumanise some people and say that they have no empathy. It is sometimes said that MLAs or Ministers do not have an interest in these matters, and that somehow their lives are wonderful and perfect, which is not the case. On this issue, every single MLA has different needs that they are having to meet and are supporting their families and constituents who are in similar positions, so we all feel a collective responsibility. As Education Minister, I feel, more than anybody else in the Chamber and anybody else in society, the need to do more and want to have the support to do more. Therefore, I welcome the interest of Members and the opportunity to outline what we are trying to do. That is why I was disappointed in Michelle Guy, who proposed the motion. There were comments from others that rightly challenged me, and I expect to be challenged, but to throw in comments such as "too little, too late", and then go on the attack about Strule, controlled schools and a managing authority, demeans the MLA for Lagan Valley. It demeans the issue that we have come here to debate when she launches a broadside on other political matters.

The Member has said enough, and I would rather prevent her from saying more things of a political nature given the attacks in which she engaged. When it comes to these matters, it is important that we address and deal with them with the urgency that they require and are fully aware of the challenges that exist. Those challenges did not just materialise in June when I corresponded with schools, nor did they materialise in March, contrary to what the Chairman of the Education Committee pronounced in a statement. I do not know where he has been, how he engages with his member on the Education Authority or how he has failed to listen to me for over 18 months —.

I am not going to give way. I do not know how he has failed to listen to me for well over 18 months, when I have repeatedly outlined the significant challenges in special educational needs. For a cheap political shot, he puts out press releases about people being asleep at the wheel. Far from it being the case that I am not aware or am not seeking to take action, it is the Member who needs to be much more proactive.

Whilst this is the first motion today that has, rightly, been brought forward by the Alliance Party, the first inquiry that the Committee called for and took forward was not on special educational needs, which was the number-one issue — people said that it should be SEN first — but on relationships and sexuality education (RSE) so that the Chairman would know whether a three-year-old should have trans guidance withdrawn. I look forward to the Chairman's remarks. Where was the priority when he put it to the Committee that it should have an inquiry into that issue rather than this one? Therefore, I welcome the fact that the Committee now intends to have an inquiry into this issue. I will support it. I held inquiries as the Justice Committee Chairman. I worked proactively with his party leader in that role, and we produced sound evidence. I welcome the fact that he now wants the Committee to look into the issue and have an inquiry. That will help the whole system to respond. I look forward to the Member's trying to justify why he led the call for the RSE inquiry, which, 12 months later, still has not even reported. Where is the efficiency? Where is the discharge of the duties of the Chairman of the Committee in that issue? I say this to the Committee: get on now with an inquiry into special educational needs. You will have my full support in doing so. When we look at the particular issues around the Education Authority, we see that we stood up the SEN task force in February. The permanent secretary and the senior team in my Department were briefed. I was briefed three days later. Those briefings were about responding to the task force that had been set up. During that meeting back in February, we dealt in detail with that particular issue. Officials and the EA worked closely together. I acknowledge that some Members have put on record their appreciation of the work that the EA took forward. It was carried out in conjunction with representatives of my Department, not least the permanent secretary. It engaged with schools. I talk about this issue every week with my senior officials to make sure that we have suitable placements in place. I have been proactive on all those matters, week in, week out. We can look at addressing placements for children with statements of SEN. I continually reiterated my commitment to ensure that all children with statements of special educational needs have a school placement that is appropriate to meet their needs. That is, and it will continue to be, the primary focus for my Department and the EA. Parents of children with SEN want the same as any parent, which is for their child to be happy and thriving in a school setting that meets their needs, to enjoy the benefits of a full and enriching curriculum and to be supported by staff who are appropriately skilled and resourced. Those are reasonable expectations, yet, all too often, I have heard from families and spoken with teachers who have little confidence in the current system's ability to meet children's needs. I recognise that it is unsatisfactory that, by the end of June each year, not all children know what school they will be going to. That is not a position that any parent wants to be in. It is important that we recognise that over 6,000 additional special educational places have been created between 2020 and 2025. This year alone, 1,374 additional special educational places have been created, involving 29 classes in special schools and 128 specialist provision classes in mainstream schools. By September 2024, 178 new specialist provision classes had been created, providing more than 1,450 places in special schools and specialist provision. As of 5 September this year, no children with a statement of SEN were unplaced. That means that 100% of children now have confirmed placements. However, despite the huge amount of work, and Members have reflected on this, that has gone into achieving that, 80 children across 17 schools are unable to attend school on a full-time basis until preparatory work has been completed for their classrooms. The EA has worked with schools to put in place contingency arrangements for those children. By way of comparison for full transparency and accountability, on 3 September last year, the position was that 15 children with statements of SEN remained unplaced and 121 could not access full-time education. Therefore, it is important that we acknowledge that the process for securing placements and notifying parents of those placements is more complex for children who have a statement of SEN, as the statutory assessment process is ongoing throughout the year. I recognise that all our schools are inclusive of children with SEN and that we work under the presumption of mainstream education for our children, but there are some children for whom that is not the best option. Some require a smaller classroom environment with more targeted intervention, and that is when specialist provision in mainstream schools is not the most appropriate option. The willingness of our schools to step up and adapt existing classroom spaces is welcome. However, to meet the needs of our children who have statements of SEN, we must increase the proportion of schools that offer specialist provision above the 26% that already do. If we are to provide the right places in local communities where children live, we need all our schools to work with the EA to ensure that such local provision is available. The EA will continue to engage with our schools, and I encourage schools to proactively engage and to explore possibilities and options for offering specialist provision within their school structures, whether that be by utilising existing available space or facilitating the placement of modular units on their sites. It is only through the continued professionalism and commitment of our schools that the needs of all our children will be met. When it comes to forward planning, the EA published operational plan 2 earlier this year. It sets out the key area-planning activity to provide a network of sustainable schools. The operational plan includes addressing key priorities in primary, special and post-primary education, with a particular focus on meeting the increasing demand for SEN schools. The plan responds to projected changes in Northern Ireland's pupil population, which is projected to decrease overall in the next 10 years while the demand for SEN places is expected to increase. My Department will continue to work with the EA to secure provision for children with statements of SEN. There is much good work going on in our special schools and much specialist provision to meet the needs of our children, but we must continue to meet the increasing demand in future years. The level of need will increase again in 2026, and it is only through continued engagement with and support from all education stakeholders, including school leaders, boards of governors, sectoral bodies and Departments, including Health, that the system will be able to meet the increasing demand. There is a need for capital investment. That need continues to grow. In the past two years, placements have required investment of over £109 million. The Department simply cannot meet that pressure and children's needs with its existing level of capital funding whilst keeping all schools open and safe. Therefore, in coming weeks, I will bring detailed plans to the Executive for a flagship Executive-led and Executive-funded SEN capital investment programme. That decade-long investment programme will expand, enhance and restructure SEN provision across special schools and mainstream settings, moving decisively from reactive yearly planning to a strategic and sustainable approach. I look forward to securing cross-party support to deliver lasting change for children and young people with SEN. On SEN reform, the motion calls for clear timescales and resource requirements for the delivery of the SEN reform agenda. The indicative timescale of five years for implementation of the SEN reform delivery plan was predicated on additional investment of in the region of £570 million. I simply cannot deliver transformation on that scale with the current Education budget. Members will no doubt be aware of the financial pressures that we face, not just in Education but across the Executive. I am committed to delivering SEN reform as quickly as I can with the resources available to my Department, but it would be wrong to commit to clear timescales in the absence of any certainty about the additional funding needed to deliver the scale of transformation required. I have been successful in securing some investment, which has allowed progress to be made. I was successful in the bid to the public-sector transformation board, and the Finance Minister confirmed £27·5 million of funding over four years. That represents only 5% of what is needed, but it provides investment to take forward a number of priority projects. I can provide clear timescales for the 13 projects that will be funded from the transformation budget and will do so in due course. As we conclude the debate on the motion, I acknowledge that it is an issue that Members have, rightly, spoken passionately about. We have a collective responsibility for it. I will not shirk from my ministerial responsibility to lead on those issues. They require support from different Departments and the Executive collectively. I will test the Executive commitment to it when I bring forward my capital programme. I trust that it will be supported. At the heart of all this, beyond the political commentary, there are families and children who need hope. We can talk about failure, and, in some instances, it has not been what it should have been. However, we also need to give hope that we have a clear plan. I do, and we are delivering it. I want to do more, and, with the support of everybody in the Chamber, I trust that we will be able to meet the needs of those families and, importantly, their children.

2,329 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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