Debate contribution: Children Missing in Education
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 29 September 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Children Missing in Education
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5139155
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her question. Her concern is one that I share. When it comes to attendance levels, for children who are enrolled in a school but do not attend, there is a process involving education welfare officers (EWO). We know that, after the first four weeks of the academic year, there are children who have still not gone to school. They are actively being pursued by the EWOs in the Education Authority and by the schools. What we do not know is this: parents have a responsibility to pursue a place in education for the children in their family, but there is no legislative requirement on the parent to inform the Department of Education or the EA if they decide not to register or enrol their child in a school, because they are going to be homeschooled, for example. If a child has been registered and deregistered, we know that they have been deregistered. However, there is a challenge in sharing information. We know how many people are born in Northern Ireland — we have a record of that — but, if a child subsequently leaves the jurisdiction with their family, we do not know that. There is, therefore, a lack of information, which, as I referenced in my response to the original question, requires collaboration between Health and the EA. We need to be able to determine, with clear and factual information, how many children are missing in education. I have outlined where I believe there are gaps in the information and that that has an impact on how effective we are in addressing those concerns. It is something that the Department is actively working on. Whether I can give the Member a guarantee that that will lead to legislation in this mandate remains to be seen. However, I assure the Member that there is an urgency to making sure that we have as much information as possible to help us.
325 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: 0.03 (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 (0.92).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | 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 | 0.65 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.31 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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