Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Education to detail any steps he is taking to help improve SEND provision in mainstream schools.
Minister of Education: My department and the Education Authority (EA) are working intensively to improve special educational needs (SEN) provision in mainstream schools.
Members are aware that I wrote to all schools in Northern Ireland on 24 February this year advising that I now require all mainstream schools which the EA considers suitable to facilitate Specialist Provision to engage constructively with them to put it in place. Since then, the EA initially identified 70 schools in areas of high pressure which potentially had capacity to offer Specialist Provision. In April, EA officers started an intensive period of engagement and consultation with these schools to assess their viability to proceed. As part of this site visits are ongoing and are focused on identifying options and solutions for Specialist Provision for September 2026 and beyond. This is in addition to schools that are already working with the EA to establish placements.
Significant progress has been made, over the last year the EA has conducted over 300 site visits and initiated circa 100 projects to establish additional SEN provision, which is estimated to create over 1,100 additional places for children and young people across communities throughout Northern Ireland.
The EA has advised that it is committed to supporting schools in establishing Specialist Provisions, each newly created class receives a set-up allowance of £3,000 for resources, alongside an initial equipment and furniture budget of approximately £20,000. Teaching and non-teaching staff costs are met from the EA central budget, with additional allocations provided to schools based on class type and pupil numbers. Each school also benefits from a dedicated EA Officer from the Specialist Setting Support Team, professional learning and development, cluster groups, and ongoing interface with SEN Support Services and multi-disciplinary agencies.
The EA has also developed an Enhanced Support Package for schools taking on new Specialist Provisions which includes Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) release, the funding of teaching and classroom support staff, staff training, enhancement of school premises, Principal Advisors peer to peer support, as well as annual pupil and administration payments.
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