Debate contribution: Summer Schemes in Special Schools: Cancellation

Debate contribution by Mrs Michelle Guy on 31 March 2026.

MLA

Mrs Michelle Guy

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

31 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Summer Schemes in Special Schools: Cancellation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5471357

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Speaker. When I realised that I would be speaking on the motion, I worried about it. I lay awake and worried about it, because I knew then, as I know now with the words in front of me, that I cannot do justice with words to those families' experiences. None of us can, but I will join others across the Chamber in attempting to do so. What snapped me out of my worry about making this speech was the realisation that it is just not that hard to stand here and deliver a speech. What is hard is being a parent of a child with complex needs who depends on a week or two weeks of a summer scheme for essential respite, only to hear, without consultation or warning, that it is being taken away. That uncertain 24 hours before the U-turn was announced was hard. Some parents were in sheer panic; others were simply broken, so exhausted by the daily fight for services and support that they could not even muster anger. Anger takes energy, and many have so little left.

Being the Minister who has been forced here to respond to the debate and face accountability for the collective failures of his Department is not hard. His doing so is the very least that the families deserve, and that is what they have been conditioned to accept: the very least. Summer scheme provision is not a luxury, and it is not guaranteed for every family of a child with complex needs. However, that community of families, who look out for one another, advocate for one another and hold one another up, stood up for one another when the announcement came. More than that, on this occasion, the people of Northern Ireland stood with them and said, "Absolutely not". The people of Northern Ireland said, "We will not accept this failure". We heard them, and we responded, using the tool of a recall motion to apply political pressure. It appears to have succeeded, but I say that with a hint of caution, because the debate has rightly thrown up the question of how we got from schemes being unsafe one day to their being safe the next. It is right that points such as that and that provision of nursing care alone is not the only measure of safety required have been raised today. I welcome the decision to reinstate the schemes with relief rather than celebration. The U-turn came only after the cynical timing of the original announcement was called out, but, by then, the unnecessary distress that it caused had already been inflicted on families. If we are to extract anything constructive from how it has played out, it is this: by standing here now, when people are finally listening to and empathising with the experiences of the families, we can expose and lay bare the fact that, once the Assembly adjourns today, the daily struggle of families with children and young people with complex needs will continue. That also allows us to point out the terrifying reality faced by post-19 families. Summer schemes for post-19 young people do not get cancelled, because there is nothing to cancel. There is nothing, full stop, for so many of the families. I asked Alma from Caleb's cause to sum up the mood of families after the U-turn. She replied with one word in capital letters: DESPERATION. The decision to remove the service from families who are already desperate may have eroded what little trust remained between SEN families and the Health and Education Ministries. Neither the scale of the harm that that decision would cause to those directly affected nor the chill factor for other families watching it was understood: that is damning. Both Ministers are embarking on reforms that require the support of the families. Authentic leaders deliver change by bringing people together and face up to the tough calls. More authoritarian or simply ineffective leaders are associated with imposing change and being egotistical and hypersensitive to challenge. The former builds trust; the latter shatters it. This episode, therefore, makes me worry about the difficult reforms that the Ministers are trying to deliver. By failing to grasp the issue earlier and to work together to prevent the fallout that we are experiencing, they have made that challenge even harder. It is incumbent on me, as the Member winding up on the motion, to summarise the debate. It has been good in some parts and disappointing in others. Many Members noted how essential summer schemes are. The key phrase, "These schemes are a lifeline not a luxury" reflected the words of the motion. The distress of families and what the decision represented were rightly highlighted. Members, including Cheryl Brownlee, highlighted families’ ongoing struggle not just over the summer but year round. Largely due to the U-turn, many Members broadened the issue in various directions. Many went to the heart of the issue, which is the failure to address nursing provision in special schools. That is an issue that both Ministers have failed to grasp and one that has been raised many times at the Education Committee. My question to the SDLP and others is, "How did you miss it?". The failure by the Departments of Health and Education to work together and the failing of our children with additional needs have been raised many times; Pat Sheehan made that point. My colleague Nick Mathison was the first to point to the Children’s Services Co-operation Act. We need to see Departments using that legislation and working together meaningfully. Parents will also want me to reflect their disappointment at the Health Minister's not contributing to the debate. Attempts to displace —.

Yes, go for it.

Thank you, Minister. I genuinely welcome your apology, because the families who are here today deserve that. Attempts to displace and deflect accountability, however, have been disappointing. The two Ministers are absolutely responsible for the situation, and redirecting to the EA or its board is unhelpful and inaccurate. I agree with Mr Gaston that Ministers are happy to come to the Chamber when they want credit, so the cynical timing of that announcement, as we went into recess, has not gone unnoticed by anyone. As he said, political calculations were made. The respite issue and the failure of the trusts to deliver for families more generally has been highlighted. Parents are in crisis, and some are going as far as to relinquish their children to the state. It is worth noting that that particular contribution was met with applause from the Public Gallery. The Education Minister outlined months of engagement between Health and the EA, but that does not explain the U-turn within a 24-hour period, nor does it absolve them of the pain that was caused. The DUP Members raised the issue of the Education budget, but they failed to acknowledge that the Minister of Education waited until well into the financial year before thinking about balancing his budget. He is also supportive of, and is presiding over, a segregated education system that is costing hundreds of millions of pounds a year. To conclude, I want to sum up by finding some hope for the families concerned. What this debacle has shown is that when we come together and when there is focus, we can deliver. That must be the core takeaway here. Again and again in the Education Committee, we have seen that those two Departments do not collaborate effectively, and that cannot go on. Those families are not extras or others, but integral to our community. We have to stop failing them. There should be no more passing the buck or pointing the finger. The challenge that we all have to meet now is about how we step up and deliver. It is an indictment on all of us that, to date, we have not done that.

1,317 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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