Paul Givan
Lagan Valley · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“The EA's enhanced support model has been out for consultation. The Member's party is the largest political grouping on the Education Authority, so his party supported the model's being consulted on.”
“Protections around strike action and action short of strike are firmly established in statute for all workers, including teachers. If the Member is referring to the Education Inspections Bill, let me be clear: nothing in that legislation removes or undermines that right.”
“The issue was covered at length at the Education Committee. The position is still not where it ought to be. When I came into office, the position that I inherited was much worse than it is today.”
“It is an area that I have had to navigate, as have many previous Education Ministers. Industrial relations is an area that needs ongoing work. I have outlined how we can address it, but I come back to saying that, when workload was undefined, trade unions struggled to specify the challenge.”
“That is not a fair characterisation. In fact, I was with Justin McCamphill, the leader of NASUWT, at the launch of the curriculum reform, at which he commended me for it and said that he thought that it was good. I have sat in many a meeting with trade union representatives during which they have said, "This is a good initiative.”
“That is exactly why there is a 16-week consultation period, rather than the normal 12 weeks or the minimum eight weeks; to allow the public and teaching profession to very much engage in that curriculum, which I commend to all Members.”
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“The procurement exercises relating to building maintenance, mechanical and electrical maintenance and minor works for the mid-Ulster area closed on 6 February, and the Education Authority will soon begin to evaluate the tenders. It is anticipated that the new contracts will be implemented across Northern Ireland in a phased approach, to be completed by September this year. The new delivery model will include performance measures to monitor early warnings of contractual non-performance and respond immediately, and to monitor cost certainty, with set prices for most requested maintenance activities. That will deliver an improved and more responsive service for our schools. EA maintenance officers will keep schools informed as contracts are put in place across Northern Ireland in the coming months.”
“The Education Authority has worked over several years to procure new maintenance contracts, and I am pleased to advise that it is now in the latter stages of that complex exercise to procure new term service short contracts for maintenance and minor works. There have been six separate procurement exercises. Each exercise contains three lots, based on the type of work and the council area. There are two types of work in the exercise: building maintenance/minor works; and mechanical and electrical maintenance/minor works. Two contracts have been awarded, with a planned commencement date of 1 April, and the other four are well under way.”
“The maintenance service will triage those requests, with the response being categorised according to risk. Response maintenance is undertaken by the EA's term service short contractors. Under the current arrangements, there is no scope for controlled and maintained schools to procure their own maintenance works. I hear regularly from schools about that. I am sure that every Member present has heard the same frustrations, and those who took part in the Adjournment debate have articulated them. <BR /> <BR />I am pleased to be able to inform you that the Education Authority has completed a comprehensive review of how it delivers maintenance and minor works to schools. That review involved many engagements with principals, and the feedback was taken on board.”
“The focus had to be on health and safety, statutory compliance and the need to address urgent and emergency repairs that could close a school or present a significant health and safety risk. It is not good enough, and that is why I am unapologetic about continuing to make a strong case for increased and sustained investment in our education system. <BR /> <BR />I will take a moment to outline the current maintenance arrangements. The Education Authority has statutory responsibility for maintenance in controlled, maintained and other maintained schools, which are mainly Irish-medium schools. Voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated schools are responsible for their own maintenance, and they receive an enhanced budget for that purpose. Schools report maintenance issues through the EA's maintenance help desk.”
“I see that every time that I go to some of those schools. Years of underinvestment, coupled with insufficient budget availability and the requirement for a large number of additional specialist places for rapidly increasing numbers of children with special educational needs, have meant that the top priority for investment has been to keep schools open and safe. <BR /> <BR />The schools maintenance resource allocation for the current financial year is just over £20 million. That allocation is directed to statutory inspections, response maintenance and the maintenance officers who work on the ground with schools. Planned maintenance has just not been possible within the existing resources.”
“We will touch on very much the same issues, so you will likely hear a repetition of what I am about to say. I have no doubt that that will help to inform your contributions to and speeches for that debate. <BR /> <BR />Since becoming Minister, I have visited over 150 schools, including a number in Mid Ulster. I have listened to and heard the concerns and frustrations of many principals about the state of some school buildings. The Chair of the Education Committee, Mr Mathison, just outlined those frustrations — I have heard them — about trying to get value-for-money repairs completed in reasonable time frames. <BR /> <BR />We have an estate of over 1,100 schools. The recent Audit Office report only served to highlight what we already know: many of our schools are in extremely poor condition.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank Ms Sheerin for securing the Adjournment debate and those colleagues who spoke on the issue. Having been a constituency MLA for quite a number of years, I very much share Members' frustrations. I am now in a position to, hopefully, do something about it, which is what I have been trying to do, and I will get to that later in my contribution. <BR /> <BR />This is an opportunity to provide an update to Members on the Education Authority's plans to introduce new contracts for the delivery of maintenance that will better deliver value for money, quality and responsiveness to all our schools. In raising the subject, Ms Sheerin has pre-empted her colleagues who have tabled a motion for next week on procurement.”
“I beg to introduce the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill [NIA 12/22-27], which is a Bill to make provision for binding guidelines on school uniform policies to be issued by the Department of Education and to extend eligibility for school clothing allowances payable by the Education Authority.”
“That is what it is about; that is the purpose. <BR /> <BR />The Alliance Party has a particular problem with the controlled sector, because it is obsessed with one sector alone: the grant-maintained integrated sector. That is its preference. It has no concern about Fresh Start funding, which gives preferential treatment to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds to the integrated sector. It is allowed preferential treatment, but how dare a controlled school get crumbs of £700,000 from the table? I had better not point out similar funding for identical projects in other sectors. Members who have used this story need to apologise: not to me but to the school.”
“I highlighted that issue when responding to comments on the statement that I brought to the Assembly last week. It is notable that, although I had put it on the record that funding was provided in the Foyle constituency to a Catholic maintained school, not one of those who subsequently asked questions at the Education Committee picked that up. That school and the principals of other schools in the controlled sector to whom I have spoken since the story broke are asking themselves, as I am, why it is that the controlled sector and that school have been singled out when they were pointing out to me examples in their communities of where funding had gone into non-controlled schools. They are concerned about the focus, because they believe, as do I, that it is politically motivated and has a sectarian agenda.”
“Members need to reflect on their approach. They owe that school an apology, as does the Education Committee. I went to the Committee for two hours to talk about children with special educational needs and all the other issues in our education system. For 90 minutes, the Committee prioritised an investigation — if you want to call it that — into £700,000 being spent at one school. Not one Member who was critical about the issue has highlighted the glaringly obvious contrast: non-controlled schools have received nearly identical levels of funding for the exact same provision. When it comes to that issue, the motivation is therefore pretty obvious.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The answer is no. Nobody in the House has yet apologised for the misrepresentation of the scheme. People ask why there is a lack of confidence and trust in these institutions' taking of decisions. There is a lack of confidence and trust when Members deliberately misrepresent the facts.”
“Some £51 million has been spent in the current financial year to meet the needs of children with special educational requirements. That will continue to be the case, because those children are the most vulnerable. If we cannot help the most vulnerable — the most in need — we are failing them. I am very much of the view that I have to take a SEN-first approach.”
“I am happy to give the Member a written update on where we are currently at with the processes and the time frame to which we are working. He raises an important point. I commissioned work on forward planning to identify need and how we align with the schools estate to meet that need. The Education Authority has been carrying out an assessment of all special schools. I recognised that Ardnashee needed to get the go-ahead to allow work to start, so, in advance of the assessment's being completed, I approved Ardnashee, as I did Knockevin School, where work continues to try to identify a site. They have been prioritised in the EA's operational plan for children with special educational needs. That is where the priority capital spend has been going.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I have been to Ardnashee. The work that is taking place in the Member's constituency is hugely impressive. We looked at the capital needs of special schools, and it was announced that Ardnashee would be developed in order to extend the site, because, as soon as the school opened, it was no longer capable of meeting the need. I therefore decided that Ardnashee required a new build to be built beside the existing school. That work is ongoing. It is a priority scheme for the Department.”
“That will allow all these things to be taken forward whilst also delivering a significant pay increase for teachers.”
“That is why various commitments were entered into with clear timelines to address workload-related issues. I appeal to the trade unions: come forward with how you feel that you need to take this deal away again to your members in order to get a more positive outcome. What is on the table is significant in terms of pay. It will lead to a recurrent expenditure of £83 million next year. At a time when we are under huge financial pressure, I have prioritised teachers' pay because it is the right thing to do, but we also need to allow the commitments around workload to be taken forward. However, we cannot have this period of action short of strike. Members just need to look at the corrosive impact that it has had on our school system for many years. We need that period of industrial stability.”
“It does not require me to ask for that. The management side has already asked for that. Management side offered to go to the Labour Relations Agency for mediation, if that would be helpful. Management side is making every effort. It is available and has said that it is available. There is no inhibitor for that. The unions are indicating that they need time to reflect on the outworkings of the process that they had. I hope that we can reach a conclusion as soon as possible on this, because everyone recognised that, at 5·5%, what was secured was significant. <BR /> <BR />We also identified workload as an issue. I absolutely understand the frustrations that teachers have about being bogged down in bureaucracy and being distracted from being able to do what they want to do around education. I am very much up for trying to deal with all that.”
“Yes, I was disappointed that, when it came to the unions engaging with their members, they were not able to get a positive consultation response, but work should continue to achieve a resolution.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have been supportive of management side in trying to reach a resolution, because I am the Minister who secured an over 10% pay increase for all teachers last year and the Minister who increased new graduates' starting salaries from £23,000 to £30,000 so that they would have a 24% increase. I also identified funding in my Department, which has been very difficult, and worked with EA to facilitate a £48 million offer of 5·5%, which is well above inflation and is line with what counterparts in England received, albeit terms and conditions for teachers are not the same in England, so it is not a straight like-for-like comparator. I want our profession to be properly paid and to receive that fair pay.”
“I thank the Member for the question. There was a period of intense negotiations during January and, as the financial circumstances for my Department were crystallising and work was taking place to identify the resource that we would need, I was pleased that those negotiations concluded with management side being able to make a formal offer and the trade union representatives agreeing to it. They took it to the trade union executive committees, and each agreed to it. They then sought feedback through consultation with their members, and the feedback that came through is now well documented: the unions have characterised it as misrepresentation on social media and hysteria on social media that led to a negative outcome of their processes in consulting.”
“Rather than take them out of the school to a hospital appointment, given the transport involved and the disruption that takes place, school is a good place for those children and young people to receive the care that they need. However, I also recognise that principals and teachers feel very vulnerable when incidents occur, and they do, and when things happen, because they do not feel that they have got the support that they need because they are not medical experts. Therefore, there needs to be better support for those schools, particularly special schools, when it comes to the medical needs of the young people whom they are ultimately there to educate.”
“I will continue to engage. I assure Members that work is ongoing between my Department and the Department of Health on this issue. I have asked for that to be looked at, and officials are engaging on it. I know that the Member's colleagues have had an interest in this. They have met me and can testify to the ongoing work. I also recognise that there has been frustration as they have sought answers and tried to get information. I have had to get involved in order to help them get that information. <BR /> <BR />There needs to be collaboration and recognition that support is required. When a young person, who has significant medical needs, is already in a school, typically a special school, that is the place to provide them with their medical support.”
“We held a meeting with a number of principals about the pressures that Knockevin and other schools face around allied health professionals and nurses. I have every sympathy with and support for the principal of Knockevin. These schools need to be supported with appropriate healthcare because they are dealing with very complex medical needs in the school setting, as are other principals and teachers across special schools. I do not think that the situation is satisfactory. Principals have brought to my attention the withdrawal of health services and the decisions that have been taken by the health trusts to withdraw them from special schools. I believe that those services should be enhanced not reduced.”
“That recognises the efforts that the Department has made in the past to support the Irish-medium sector. I am happy to continue to provide that support when requests come through.”
“I thank the Member for her question. Colleagues will know that I receive a huge number of invitations, and I just cannot be everywhere all at the one time. However, I seek to make myself available. Most Members in the Chamber, if they look at it fairly, will say that I do that and attend as many settings and take up as many invitations as I can. <BR /> <BR />The Member raises an issue on the recommendations published in respect of the matter. I accept that there are issues in providing enough resources for those who want to have their education through the medium of Irish. I also recognise that, when it came to making reductions in numbers going into teacher training colleges, the one area that did not have a reduction was training for those who participate in the Irish medium.”
“That is subject to finance. For some, it will also be subject to their being in a state of readiness, which will include capital investment to increase the physical size of their buildings. We also need to have the staff available to provide the additional hours that we need to make everybody full-time.”
“I welcome the support of the Executive and the funding that has allowed me to do that, but I want to bring so many more settings into line to provide a full-time place.”
“I absolutely understand the representations that the Member has received; I have also received them. It is recognition of what we are able to do as an Executive with the resource that is available. I would love to bring more in, but that comes with a cost implication. Some of the settings, as we develop the programme, will require capital investment to increase their physical capacity. <BR /> <BR />We should not hold everybody back until everybody is ready to move at the same time. It will take a number of years to do that. Where we have had the opportunity to increase part-time provision, which is 12·5 hours, to 22·5 hours, which is a full-time place, we have done so, and that is the right approach.”
“We are embarking on the biggest expansion of preschool education in a generation, and, with the support of my Executive colleagues, I am determined to see it through.”
“<BR /> <BR />Simultaneously, the programme is turning attention to the work of identifying and supporting the next cohort of settings to transition to the standardised session length. The EA will issue an online survey to all part-time funded preschool providers between February and March to refresh the state-of-readiness data used to identify settings suitable for transition. I will be in a position to set a further ambitious target for the programme for September 2026 once the available budget is confirmed and analysis of the updated state-of-readiness data is complete. <BR /> <BR />It is important that we recognise the positive and lasting impact that this will have on the lives of thousands of our children, many of them not yet born.”
“The 2024-25 package of measures for parents and providers that I announced to the Assembly on 23 May continues to be successfully implemented, including a major expansion of preschool education provision. I announced at that time my intention that an additional 100 preschool settings and 2,000 places would transition to deliver a full-time preschool education place from September 2025, with more to follow in successive years. I have now approved 106 settings to transition to the standardised session length, enabling over 2,500 additional children to have access to a full-time place from September 2025. The Department and the Education Authority are in the process of supporting the settings to prepare for successful transition, and that work is on track.”
“When a tree comes down and goes through the roof of a building — footage of such an incident has been shared with me — it is difficult to say, given the 90-100 mph winds, whether the damage could have been avoided had there been more investment in schools. It would be unfair of me to say yes, because I do not have the evidence to show that schools in those circumstances suffered damage as a result of underinvestment. I agree with the Member's general point that there has been underinvestment, and that needs to change.”
“That takes me into the territory of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) report on underinvestment in our school estate, the need for much higher levels of investment and the bids that I make, which are for much greater sums than I receive. I agree in general that there needs to be much better investment in the school estate. We can invest only what we have, however, and what we have is inadequate. <BR /> <BR />Do I believe that the significant structural damage that occurred on some occasions was a result of underinvestment in a particular school structure? I do not have that evidence to hand on the basis of this report.”
“A review always takes place to make sure that we learn how to do things better, but it is important to acknowledge that it was well handled.”
“I thank the Member for that. As with everything, whilst I believe that departmental officials, the Education Authority and others responded very well — I went to meet the staff in EA to convey my appreciation — lessons on communications can always be learned. That Sunday evening, nearly 300 principals were invited and came to an online briefing session from EA to provide them with that support. We were communicating support, and the feedback that I have got from many of the principals is positive. It is important to acknowledge and recognise when people do good work. I will always be the first to say that we could do better, and, at times, I will be critical of how we operate, but, in that example, the EA got it right, the Department got it right, and we responded well in difficult circumstances.”
“I thank the Member for that question. The Minister of Finance allocated some funding to Departments to help to mitigate the costs. Obviously, the Department of Education and other Departments are already under acute financial pressure. My Department received a £3 million allocation towards the storm damage on the resource side. As a caveat to that, I will say that we are still trying to get precise details. Our current assessment is that costs to the Department in the region of £6 million are attributable to the storm and £2 million on the capital side. That comes with a heavy caveat, because we are still trying to get that information. I have received £3 million. On the capital side, I have received nothing, but I do not believe that any Department received capital allocations, because the capital is not there to allocate.”
“The impact, as I outlined, was detrimental to the schools that had to close, but we were able to have the vast majority open, and, by the end of that week, all schools were open. Schools were also seeking, where they could, to carry out some remote learning. It also highlights the need for contingency arrangements to be in place for exceptional circumstances when a school is closed. Obviously, some schools and homes had no electricity, making it difficult to do online learning — everybody understands that — but it is important that contingency plans were in place to ensure that, despite what was going on, some education could take place. Yes, it was disruptive, but we were able to mitigate that disruption through the good work of those involved.”
“I confirm that all schools were reopened by Friday 31 January due to the tireless work of the Education Authority's maintenance teams and other agencies, including NIE and Northern Ireland Water. <BR /> <BR />Significant damage has been experienced across the schools estate. The Education Authority's maintenance teams have been collating damage reports and triaging on a safety basis. Plans are well developed to address the required remedial works, which are likely to be ongoing in some schools for several weeks and, indeed, months. The Education Authority and the Department will continue to liaise with schools to provide support and ensure that any outstanding repairs or replacements are progressed as quickly as possible.”
“With the Speaker's permission, I will answer questions 4 and 10 together. <BR /> <BR />I begin by expressing my sincere thanks to the staff in all our schools, in the Education Authority and in NIE and to members of our community who worked extremely hard, sometimes in very challenging conditions, to protect our schools estate from the storm and subsequently to ensure that schools could safely reopen as quickly as possible. The Education Authority maintenance help desk received in excess of 1,000 calls from schools reporting damage to their premises following storm Éowyn. Those calls ranged in severity from missing roof tiles and damaged fences to significant structural damage. On Monday 27 January, 60 schools were closed. Of those, 10 were closed due to major damage and the rest were closed due to power outages.”
“I am trying to provide the support early and have the assessment carried out with some flexibility rather than through a statementing process. We can then make the intervention, so that people do not need to get a statement and do not need a legal document. We should be meeting those needs without parents going down that route. <BR /> <BR />There is a feeling that, once you have a statement, you will get the resource, but that is often not the case. There has to be a better way, and we now have a clear pathway for achieving that, but it will take time and resources. We know what we need to do; it is about being able to do it.”
“Special educational needs was an issue that was consulted on in the draft Programme for Government, and I am confident that it will be in the document when it is agreed. That recognises the collective approach that the Executive are taking to deal with those issues. Of course, it needs to be followed through with Budget and resource allocations. That will be important. <BR /> <BR />The Member rightly highlights the statementing process and the ability to carry out assessments. The time frame is not satisfactory. However, the fact that people feel that they need to have a statement — a legal document — to get the services that, they believe, are required is symptomatic of a system that does not work.”
“My Department is working closely with officials in the Department of Health and the Public Health Agency (PHA) to take those actions forward.”
“The Member rightly highlights the need for the wider support that allied health professionals provide, and I agree with him. The provision of that support is the responsibility of the Minister of Health, and I have made that point. We need to have the Department of Health and its Minister supporting me and schools in order to meet the need for allied health professionals. <BR /> <BR />The Member highlights the SEN reform delivery plan. It was published on 4 February, and it recognises the need for Health and Education to work collaboratively to ensure access to support from AHPs for the children who require it. That need is well evidenced, and the plan includes actions to address it, such as increasing the number of undergraduate places for AHPs and establishing protected education posts.”
“That is one of the reasons that I say to the House that action short of strike causes harm and should not be supported.”
“Data was received from all schools in 2023-24. In 2024, pupil-level information was not received in electronic format from 25% of primary, post-primary and special schools, and a paper return was received from the schools that refused to submit a return electronically. Members will know that that was part of the action short of strike that was taken in some schools. People say that such action does not have an impact, but it did have an impact and continues to do so. The result was that the Department was unable to obtain all the necessary information that it usually receives electronically on special educational needs, so it was not possible to fully undertake the normal validation processes. The data is not the complete picture.”
“We facilitate cluster groups. We signpost to other services. There is a dedicated link officer. There is pre and post set-up support. We interface with the various practitioners, allied health professionals and multidisciplinary teams. When we set up a SPiMS unit, we need to make sure that it will actually work, and that requires that wider wrap-around support to be in place. <BR /> <BR />We are already looking at what is needed for 1 September. Work is ongoing to make sure that we can provide the appropriate placements, making sure that our capital criteria and requirements align with the need that we see coming forward. Things were bad. Things have improved, but they are still nowhere near where they need to be to meet the needs of the young people who are affected.”
“The Member is right to raise the issue of specialist provision. Seeking expressions of interest in having specialist provision, we contacted all schools. I visited Carr Primary School in my constituency. It did not offer that provision but indicated that it wanted to. About 10 months later, I was able to visit the school again, and it now offers excellent specialist provision. Eight children are getting the support that they need, and the principal has been hugely supportive of that. That has been replicated in many other schools across Northern Ireland where we were able to put in that provision. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to specialist provision, we need to make sure that it works. What assistance do we provide in SPiMS? We support the individual through self-evaluation and action plans. We provide professional learning development.”
“<BR /> <BR />Special educational needs have been a key priority for me from day 1 of taking up office, from creating an extra 1,400 places across our school system to making sure that we have the appropriate pathways and supports in place to make that change; carrying out a review of all special schools in Northern Ireland; and ensuring that the operational plan 2, published by the EA for area planning, had a SEN-first approach, which means prioritising meeting the needs of children with special educational needs. There is also the funding that my Department has bid for from the transformation programme. I anticipate that that will allow us to take forward further work when it comes to transformation, which will be of assistance to those who need that help.”
“I thank the Member for raising that, because I highlighted it through the special educational needs review that was completed. We have taken that information. I made a statement to the Assembly outlining how we needed to address it. Subsequently, I published the details of the delivery plan associated with that and the resources that would be required to meet the need.”