Nick Mathison
Strangford · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“That second part is important. In the scrutiny of the Minister's Bill on school uniforms, we got a little tied up over how we could build in provisions on PE, but, when we got to work on this Bill, we found that there is a simple formulation that will ensure that participation in sport and PE, which, we should remember, is a statutory par…”
“<BR /> <BR />On the basis of that feedback and the other evidence that we received, two draft approaches to developing the Bill were considered. The first was to create a separate, stand-alone Bill with a stand-alone right for pupils to be afforded the choice to wear trousers and to set that out in law.”
“Many schools do that really well, but others, regrettably, do not. To me, only legislation will guarantee the behaviour change that we need. It is not good enough for a Minister to say to young people, "But I give you permission to go and campaign. You run the campaign. Look at Rhea and Astrid: didn't they do so well?".”
“I will name a few: the school uniform must be affordable, so schools have no autonomy on that; and schools must consult with parents when they are changing their policy, so they have no autonomy on that. I could go through every one of the guidelines.”
“depending on the activity. That was to ensure that the need for appropriate clothing for sporting activities was reflected. <BR /> <BR />Ultimately, it is a permissive Bill. It is simply focused on creating a universal right to have the choice to wear trousers and enshrining that in the guidance.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will not speak for long, and I do not plan to rehearse everything that has been said. However, I begin by doing something that I overlooked when I spoke at the beginning: thanking the Deputy Chair of the Committee who first proposed the Bill.”
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“I thank the Member for his intervention. We would certainly advocate for urgency on this. The key for us is that the child poverty strategy needs to sit within the wider anti-poverty strategy, and a timeline distracts from that. <BR /> <BR />We must act collectively, collaboratively and comprehensively to deliver for some of our most vulnerable children and families. I commend the amendment to the House on that basis and hope that it receives support.”
“<BR /> <BR />Any child who is living in poverty is one too many, so, as the amendment clearly outlines, we must ensure that we have in any strategy specific measurable targets alongside monitoring mechanisms that will measure outcomes and allow us to learn not only about what we are doing well but about what needs to be improved. We must not return to the Chamber in a few years' time to debate the issue again and to bemoan the delay in the delivery of an anti-poverty strategy. How many other children will suffer if we allow that to be the case? We must —.”
“Working families are struggling with the crippling impacts of extortionate childcare costs in Northern Ireland, but, sadly, we still see progress going very slowly from the Department of Education, and I ask that that work be continued at pace. <BR /> <BR />An anti-poverty strategy that is genuinely cross-departmental and concerned with early intervention and prevention rather than expensive late interventions, which other Members mentioned, must have early education and childcare as key elements, and all Departments with a role in this space — yes, that means Education, but also Communities, Health and Economy — must work together in the interests of children in Northern Ireland.”
“It said that if we are serious about wanting to see fundamental change for the benefit of our most disadvantaged children, an anti-poverty strategy must prioritise education and learning as a clear route out of poverty. <BR /> <BR />I cannot talk about issues on education and how it connects to an anti-poverty strategy without mentioning the other strategy that we have talked much of in the Chamber: the development of the early learning and childcare strategy. Childcare is an incredibly important anti-poverty and early intervention tool, and it is vital that an anti-poverty strategy captures that properly.”
“<BR /> <BR />With that in mind, since the restoration of devolution, all parties have supported motions to tackle school uniform costs, reinstate holiday hunger payments and review the criteria for free school meals, so I urge the Minister of Education once again to pursue that work as quickly as possible but in conjunction with the Executive colleagues as part of the wider anti-poverty strategy. I would welcome it if the Minister for Communities today could clarify what some of the work that has been done with the Department of Education has been on the development of an anti-poverty strategy. <BR /> <BR />The expert panel that produced the report 'A Fair Start' highlighted that addressing educational underachievement that has been brought about as a consequence of social disadvantage extends beyond the Education Department alone.”
“Much has been said about the cross-departmental aspect to the matter and how we cannot say that it is just for the Department for Communities to deliver. We know that children who grow up in poverty are more likely to have lower levels of educational attainment, and it is incredibly worrying, therefore, that, for more and more families simply accessing education, the cost of just getting children to school is becoming a huge financial burden. Any anti-poverty strategy needs to tackle that.”
“It is important that we just take stock of the sheer numbers of children whom that is impacting. It is not acceptable, and we cannot continue on that upward trajectory. It is high time that the commitments that were made in previous mandates to tackle poverty are now delivered on. <BR /> <BR />The Audit Office report made it plain that any new anti-poverty strategy should include an action plan containing clearly defined indicators and targets that are aimed at quantifying and reducing poverty and that those should detail early intervention and prevention, with a clear demonstration of the links between the actions that we are going to carry out and how they will reduce the scale and impact of poverty. Thinking about early intervention, I will focus some of my remarks on the role of education in that space.”
“I support the amendment, and I also thank the Members who tabled the motion. I hope, however, that the amendment will receive support. I feel that it draws out not only the need for the strategy to be appropriately resourced but the necessity to provide a prevention strategy that is at the heart of any anti-poverty interventions. The amendment also highlights the need for child poverty interventions to be embedded in the Executive's anti-poverty strategy, which should have measurable outcomes at its heart. <BR /> <BR />This is a statistic that many Members referenced, but the 'Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report' has shown us that the percentage of children who are living in relative poverty in Northern Ireland has risen from 18% in 2021-22 to 24% in 2022-23. That equates to approximately 109,000 children.”
“Taking all that into account, the Committee has agreed to recommend that the draft period products regulations be affirmed and made by the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />As Alliance education spokesperson, I wish to add that we are happy to support the regulations for all the reasons discussed by the Committee.”
“We know that that resource has been broadly welcomed by those who use it. The provision of free period products, particularly in schools, has gone some way to helping break down the taboo and stigma that can, sometimes, be associated with periods, while also providing those in need with access to products in a dignified manner. <BR /> <BR />Period products legislation intends to improve access to education, work and sport, alongside improving dignity for women, girls and those who menstruate. The provision of period products is a gender-equality issue, and we should all champion any sort of provision that focuses on equal educational opportunity for all. It also highlights the importance of improving the understanding of menstruation and creating supportive, empowering conversations about periods.”
“I will not go into detail on the specified bodies, as the Minister covered those in detail. <BR /> <BR />Department of Education officials were able to provide the Committee with clarity on the costings of the provision. The Committee was particularly concerned about the interface between statutory and non-statutory provision and, going forward, the sustainability of funding for those measures. The Department suggested that the cost of the provision could be in the region of £0·8 million per annum. Funding will need to be bid for, and expenditure will be subject to business case approval. The Committee is keen to hear what assurance the Minister can give that funding for that raft of measures will, indeed, be protected. <BR /> <BR />I pay tribute to the Department. It has led the way with its period dignity pilot scheme.”
“It also recommended a co-educational awareness-raising approach to the roll-out of the scheme to reduce period stigma and present sustainable options. <BR /> <BR />Since the restoration of devolution, the Education Committee has heard from officials in the Department on the work that they have undertaken on the regulations. Under the Act, provision is to be sufficient to meet a person's needs while on the premises of a specified public service body, as has been set out by the Minister. A policy on the way forward for take-home provision for pupils, which is currently provided through the schools' pilot scheme, will need to be agreed in the context of the universal scheme — again, as referenced by the Minister — that will be delivered by TEO. We look forward to hearing more about how that will be implemented and brought forward.”
“Speaking on behalf of the Education Committee, I am pleased to offer the Committee's support for the draft Period Products (Department of Education Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. <BR /> <BR />Access to period products should be universal, as is the case for many other basic hygiene products. The previous Education Committee welcomed the passing of the Period Products Act, having worked on period product provision for some time, and the current Committee is glad to see the regulations enacted, allowing the Act to become a reality. <BR /> <BR />The previous Committee tabled amendments to the original Period Products Bill, which were accepted by the Assembly, to require privacy, confidentiality and the consideration of sustainable options in the arrangements for the provision of period products.”
“I hope that the Minister for Infrastructure can finally commence the project and that it can be done in this financial year.”
“The Department for Infrastructure issued a notice of intention to proceed with that project as far back as December 2016, but the project has been repeatedly delayed since then, not least as a result of long periods of suspension of these institutions when we had no Ministers in place. Last August, locals were dismayed when DFI announced that the project was once again paused, with no timeline for when that would change. <BR /> <BR />The tragedy last week has only refocused the minds of local people on just how badly Ballynahinch is impacted by high traffic volumes. I have been contacted by many people from the town, who spoke about how it has reminded them of the urgent need for the bypass to be delivered as a priority. I confirm the urgent need for the project on behalf of the residents of Ballynahinch.”
“First, I offer my sincere condolences to all those affected by the tragic incident in Ballynahinch last week, and I echo the comments made earlier by Cathy Mason on the tragic incident that resulted in the death of local man Giovanni Buggea. The town is in a state of grief and shock following the terrible incident, and my thoughts are with all Mr Buggea's friends and family at this very difficult time. I am aware that there is an ongoing PSNI investigation into the incident, so my remarks will be about the wider issue of traffic in the town. <BR /> <BR />The terrible tragedy has highlighted, once again, the high level of local concern about the volume of traffic in the town and the level of frustration with the delays over many years in delivering the much-needed Ballynahinch bypass.”
“In this context, I will continue to advocate for a properly funded education system where we are ambitious about real transformation to deliver fit-for-purpose education for our children and young people, where the barriers of division are broken down and where all learners, regardless of their level of additional need or socio-economic background, can reach their full potential.”
“<BR /> <BR />We need to see delivery reform across many areas, not least for SEN, primarily to ensure that we deliver for the children and families who need and rely on those services, but also to ensure that the large sums of money being spent on those services are financing an effective system that prioritises early intervention, not the expensive late interventions that so often categorise our system in education. We all agree that the financial position we face is extremely difficult.”
“To that, I add that we need our Education Minister to demonstrate a genuine commitment to delivering transformation of our education system. We need a clear plan to both assess and tackle the cost of division in our education system, a system divided both on community lines and socio-economic lines. In that regard, I echo the comments from my colleague, Eóin Tennyson. I was disappointed that the Minister did not begin his tenure by restoring the ring-fencing of Fresh Start funding to allow integrated capital projects to progress. I urge him to reconsider this position. I would welcome clarification from the Finance Minister on what steps she took to consider the possibility of restoring that ring-fencing of the Fresh Start funding.”
“We know that, for many areas, significant additional resources are required over and above what the Department's regular statutory functions cover. A good example of that is the early learning and childcare strategy: something that every party in the Chamber supports, but the resource required to deliver it is still to be found. Ultimately, this speaks to the need to reform how Northern Ireland is funded. It is an urgent necessity that our funding settlement is adjusted to reflect our level of objective need. All parties need to maintain the focus of moving beyond the UK Government's acceptance that we are, indeed, underfunded and to delivering a settlement that genuinely reflects our level of need with an appropriate fiscal floor.”
“Departments were facing real risks of exceeding spending limits and running out of cash in some cases, but it was uniformly agreed across the Chamber that the process we were engaged in was suboptimal, to say the least. The rushed Budget, and the less than satisfactory scrutiny process associated with it, is a direct result of the decisions of some to collapse the Assembly. It is vital that we do not find ourselves in this position again and that all parties get behind supporting the reform needed to ensure that the veto is removed from politics in Northern Ireland for good. <BR /> <BR />As already outlined, this has been an incredibly challenging year for education from a budgetary perspective, and the year ahead looks set to continue in a similar vein.”
“The Committee will continue to scrutinise the Minister and Department in these challenging financial times to support delivery on key issues but also to ensure that the Department brings forward a meaningful reform and transformation programme. <BR /> <BR />I will now make some remarks in my capacity as Alliance's education spokesperson and as an MLA for Strangford. It is clear, as has been referenced by many other Members, that we are again in a less than desirable position with regard to our Budget scrutiny in this place. These Supply resolutions should have been laid before the Budget Bill earlier this year, but we are all aware that that Bill passed without the provision of Supplementary Estimates.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Committee has not yet had the opportunity to examine the Department's transformation plans, but it is clear that this work is urgently required, and the Committee will turn its focus to the issue in the months ahead. Early discussions in Committee considered teachers' pay and the ongoing industrial dispute, and we welcome the significant progress made to resolve that. The Committee has also expressed its support for seeing progress and delivery of the pay and grading review for education support staff. However, members are very mindful of the challenges facing us in finding the recurring budget to finance these pay agreements in the years ahead.”
“In this context, the Committee shares the concern of the Children's Commissioner that the cuts in education, over the previous year and years before that, have disproportionably affected our children and young people. The Committee has consistently highlighted that the Department's budget is not sufficiently targeted at early interventions for children with additional needs, for those impacted by social disadvantage or in early interventions in early years specifically. Education has typically survived in recent years on a cycle of bailouts, often via monitoring rounds, and this can only be broken by a commitment to transformation of service delivery.”
“That is felt at every level of the education system: school budgets, Youth Services, SEN services and targeted programmes to tackle educational disadvantage and to improve mental well-being in schools. <BR /> <BR />The Committee has focused on SEN in some detail — rightly so, given the pressure on places that faces us in September. There has been an 88% increase in total SEN spend from £255 million in 2017-18 to £479 million in 2022-23. The Minister has suggested, looking ahead, that an extra £100 million in capital budget will be required to fund the capital works to deliver SEN places, and also that the SEN transformation programme itself needs another £11 million in funding.”
“I rise to speak to the Supply resolutions. I will do so, first, as the Chairperson of the Education Committee. Since the return of the Assembly in February, the Committee has been engaged in intensive work, hearing from key education stakeholders and, of course, directly from the Department. As other Members referenced, however, the Committee has had less time than it would have liked in order to properly understand the financial position for the previous year and the year ahead. <BR /> <BR />It is clear that the Department's budget is under substantial pressure. That was the case in the previous financial year and will be in the year ahead, as we look to the Vote on Account. Officials have indicated to the Committee that, in a flat-cash budgetary position, pressures of around £900 million will be faced.”
“We are all aware of the impact of the removal of ring fencing from the Fresh Start funding. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm what consideration he undertook of the options that are available to him for restoring ring fencing around the £150 million Fresh Start funding pot in order to allow those new-build and other projects for integrated schools to proceed.”
“<BR /> <BR />I pay tribute to Children in Northern Ireland and the work that it has done on the active holiday hunger project. I hope that, when the Minister brings forward a plan to tackle holiday hunger, he will consider the sort of interventions that that project has made in communities. <BR /> <BR />I have many more things that I could say, but time is against me, so I will conclude by confirming very clearly that Alliance was delighted to see the needs of children and young people being brought to the fore in the debate. I also hope that our amendment will receive support and that tackling food poverty among our children all-year round will be priority for every Member.”
“I agree, and I will probably not be able to take any more interventions because I will not get any extra time. The cross-departmental aspect of this has been raised. This is not just about educational outcomes. It is about health inequalities, so the whole issue has to be taken in the round. I agree on that point. <BR /> <BR />When the Minister makes points, we should all take them seriously. All parties need to coalesce around these issues with a united voice, but all Departments need to do that. This is not just a matter for the Department of Education. It is a matter for the Department of Health and the Department for Communities, so I call on those Departments to get behind the motion and look at what they can do on a wider anti-poverty strategy to ensure that we can deliver real progress in this space.”
“It is important that that is given serious consideration and is brought to public consultation as soon as possible.”
“Unfortunately, I did not pick up a huge sense of urgency in some of the Minister's remarks, and I want to emphasise that a lot of families will be looking to the summer and will be deeply concerned about holiday hunger. We want to see steps being taken to progress the review of the eligibility criteria as urgently as possible and steps to bring forward the wider strategy on holiday hunger, as the motions calls for, as quickly as possible. <BR /> <BR />I will pick up on Gerry Carroll's comments. Last week, I sponsored the UNISON All We Need is Lunch campaign, which focused on UNISON's call for universal free school meal provision across Northern Ireland. I hope to see, out of the wider review of the free school meals programme, options on moving towards a universal provision.”
“That means that there could be in the region of 55,000 children measured as being in some form of poverty in Northern Ireland who are not currently accessing free school meals. We know that there are many reasons why that might be the case, but we need to think seriously about how we address that and whether auto-enrolment for free school meals could be considered. We also need to prioritise policies that improve ease of access to free school meals and ensure that free school meals are as widely accessible as possible. That was the thinking behind our amendment. <BR /> <BR />The Minister highlighted his intention to act on the issue and on some of the wider costs of accessing education that the motion references, but I really want to draw attention to the wording of our amendment, which is about urgency.”
“<BR /> <BR />I do, however, want to make a few comments about our amendment and the substantive motion and maybe respond to some of the Minister's comments. There are approximately 96,000 children in Northern Ireland who are entitled to free school meals. The latest figures show us that there is only about a 79% uptake of free school meals, which means that about 20% of children who are entitled to those meals are potentially missing out. <BR /> <BR />The 'Northern Ireland Poverty and Income Inequality Report, 2021/22' shows us that, during that period, there were approximately 83,000 children living in relative poverty and approximately an additional 68,000 living in absolute poverty.”
“As Members across the House have stated, there is widespread support for the motion and the amendment, and that is welcome. I thank the Members who tabled the motion. Holiday hunger is a critical issue that we, as an Assembly, need to try to address. <BR /> <BR />I do not want to go through each contribution one by one. We can summarise them fairly quickly by saying that absolutely everybody here agreed that tackling child poverty should be a priority for every Member. Everybody has agreed that a cross-party approach is needed. Everybody has also agreed that the community and voluntary sector does an awful lot of heavy lifting in this space and has had to do that in the absence of a functioning Executive, which is not acceptable. There is widespread agreement on those points, so, on that basis, I will not go through each contribution.”
“I thank the Commission member for the answer. In the interests of trying to create as family-friendly a working environment as possible in the Assembly, would the Commission consider undertaking a review of the adequacy of baby-changing facilities in the Building?”
“None of us wants to see a further tragedy on the road. I hope that DFI has a plan to improve road safety. I reiterate my thanks to Michelle McIlveen for bringing forward this debate today.”
“I think that every Member here for this debate will have had the standard response from the Department about policies on setting speed limits and how the current limit is appropriate. One aspect of that, which is repeatedly raised, is that there needs to be frontage development on both sides of the road. On one side of the road is the sea. There is never going to be frontage development in Strangford lough; it is not going to happen. We really will have entered into a parallel dimension if we start to develop that section of the coast. That does not mean that the national speed limit is appropriate. We cannot be slaves to policy. We have to look at the history of that road and what local people tell us about it. <BR /> <BR />I really hope that the Minister can respond positively to what are, I think, moderate requests.”
“What I hear from residents in that development is that, although they want to access on foot the beautiful landscape around them, Floodgates Park and a large part of the coastal path along the lough, and they want to access the facilities at Londonderry Park, they are choosing to get behind the wheel of their car for a short two-minute drive, simply because they would not ask their children to walk on that footpath. That does not seem to be acceptable to me. We are asking families to run the gauntlet every time they want to access their local facilities, and we need to try to give that the attention that it deserves. <BR /> <BR />I want to pick up on a reference that was made to being a slave to policy.”
“There has also been a failure to ensure regular maintenance of that footpath where there is a lot of overgrowth from private land. It is only when elected reps remind the Department that it is overgrown, is exacerbating safety concerns and is further narrowing an already unacceptably narrow footway that the Department seems to engage. There does not seem to be routine engagement with the landowner. That means that pedestrians walking from Teal Rocks are forced to use a footway on a road with a national speed limit, and, at points, the footway is much too narrow for two people to pass, never mind pushchairs, wheelchairs or anything else. <BR /> <BR />I delivered a petition in 2020. I surveyed every house in Teal Rocks, and it was unanimously agreed that the speed limit and footway needed urgent attention.”
“I think that every one of us has a massive responsibility, when we get behind the wheel, to drive appropriately for the conditions that we are presented with. However, I also think that the Department has a responsibility to set speed limits at a level that reasonably alerts drivers to what is an appropriate speed for the road in question. At the minute, those two things feel very out of sync, and that really needs attention. <BR /> <BR />The second critical intervention, which has been covered as well, concerns the footway that runs from Teal Rocks towards Newtownards. The Department has confirmed to me in writing that the footway does not even come close to meeting current standards. There has been no attempt to suggest that it does. However, the Department has also repeatedly refused to widen it.”
“To my mind, this sends a clear message to drivers, particularly to the many tourists who use the road, who do not know it and are unfamiliar with the fact that it is a really difficult road to navigate, that it is now appropriate to raise their speed. That just sends the wrong message when, in fact, they are approaching a winding, rural road, completely exposed to the coast on the other side. Also, they very quickly arrive at the junction with a large housing estate, Teal Rocks, which, as we have heard, is, due to a recent planning application, soon to become a much larger development. In my view, the speed limit is neither safe nor appropriate for the road in question. <BR /> <BR />As referenced by my colleague, quite rightly, it is not necessarily the roads that are unsafe but driver behaviour.”
“Regrettably, despite that tragic loss of life and many other incidents that have been mentioned — the residents of Teal Rocks have been central to this, in that they have been very vocal with all elected representatives on the issue — until now, there has been a lack of direct action from the Department. I hope that we will see some progress on the back of this debate. <BR /> <BR />I want to draw out what I see as the two most critical asks, and they have been covered already. The first is the speed limit, which needs to be reviewed urgently. As you leave Newtownards, as soon as you pass Londonderry Park, the speed limit changes to a national speed limit.”
“Michelle went through those in some detail, so I will not go through each one, but I will refer specifically to the incident in 2022 when, tragically, a motorcyclist died near the entrance to Teal Rocks. That incident really reignited, at that time, the calls to look at the road safety interventions needed on that stretch of road. Unfortunately, my experience of engagement with the Department was a refusal to engage with a request for an on-site meeting at that time. I think that references were made to a live, ongoing investigation, but I felt that an on-site meeting with elected representatives to look at the topography and at what the issues were would have been very helpful at that time.”
“I, too, add my thanks to Michelle McIlveen for securing this Adjournment debate today. This is an issue that anybody who has ever represented Newtownards, the Ards peninsula or the wider Strangford constituency will have had raised with them. I also thank the Minister for attending today to respond to the debate. <BR /> <BR />I mentioned that anyone who has ever represented Newtownards, in particular, will be very mindful of the issues. As you leave Newtownards, heading down the Portaferry Road, there is a particularly dangerous section. Tragically, it is a section that, as was referred to, has seen fatal and serious accidents in recent years.”
“Thank you. Very briefly, does the Member agree that, in December, the UK Government made it very clear during the talks process that re-profiled funding packages were going to be in the mix for the scheme and that all parties, including the SDLP, were party to those discussions?”
“I hope that the Minister can provide assurances today that he will do all in his power to access that money for the Department of Education and invest it in the schools that have so cruelly missed out, when they were so close to seeing the delivery of their projects become a reality.”
“After significant plans and preparations, they have been completely left in the dark, causing significant upset and stress for all involved. I urge all Members to support the motion today and send a clear message from the Assembly that we hear their concerns, we stand with them and we will speak with a collective voice to urge the UK Government to reverse the decision and to ensure that capital funding can be released as soon as possible. I emphasise again that, despite the unhelpful and illogical decision of the UK Government to remove the ring fencing from that funding — removing funding from schools that they have vocally claimed to support — the £150 million that we are debating is not lost to the Executive.”
“<BR /> <BR />Following the implementation of the Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 in the last mandate, brought through by my colleague, Kellie Armstrong, the Minister of Education has a legal duty to provide sufficient places in integrated schools to meet the demand for integrated education. Under the Act, the integrated education strategy must quantify funding commitments and identify how resources will be made available for the support and provision of integrated education. When the Minister concludes the debate, I will be keen to hear how he will ensure those duties will be met in light of the removal of Fresh Start funding. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I once again emphasise that the motion is about the 10 impacted schools, schools that have had their funding from Fresh Start for a new school build removed.”
“In 2016, the school was announced for major capital investment, and the principal described how, since then, the hopes of children, parents, staff, governors and the wider community had been set on a new school build. Extensive work had taken place as the school discussed and planned for its new 22-class school build. The original opening date had been set for this year, but various delays had pushed that back to 2026. As it stands, the school does not know when the building will begin. They have been left entirely in limbo, with the rug pulled from under their feet. All this is just as the local council had approved the planning permission for the new site. It is unacceptable that a school can be treated so dismissively, and we must do all in our power to see that this is reversed.”
“The UK Government have consistently claimed to be an enthusiastic supporter of integrated education, yet the decision to re-profile Fresh Start does the exact opposite of supporting integrated education. It has set progress back a number of years for schools that were in touching distance of receiving the critical investment in their buildings that they needed. <BR /> <BR />To give an example of the impact of that, members of the Education Committee will recall that last week we received correspondence from the principal of Bangor Central Integrated Primary School detailing the shock and disappointment that the school feels at finding out that the UK Government had removed the earmarked funding.”