To ask the Minister of Education to outline the measures his Department will implement to ensure that delays related to construction of modular classrooms do not further impact the commencement of the academic year for pupils in special educational needs settings.

Mr Givan

Where the delivery of specialist provision accommodation has been delayed, the Education Authority has been working with affected schools to ensure that contingency arrangements are in place to mitigate the impact on pupils and their families. Each individual capital work project is overseen by a dedicated project manager to monitor the delivery programme. However, unforeseen circumstances can still arise, such as the discovery of a live electrical cable at Ceara School in the Member's constituency, that will inevitably impact on the delivery programme. My Department, working with the Education Authority, continues to monitor active capital work schemes to reduce delays as far as possible.

Mr Givan

There are two points. He rightly highlights that delay, which was caused by a live cable being identified. As regards trying to resolve the issue in that example, the modular accommodation has been constructed off-site and is ready for installation once the site is fully prepared. The contractor has indicated a projected completion date of 5 December, but the Education Authority is actively working to accelerate the programme to get progress in advance of that date. As regards a new build, the Member will know that, only last week, we had a statement around special educational needs capital investment. The EA has produced detailed plans in which we have mapped out the provision that every special school needs. That is before the Executive as part of the 10-year plan for investment. It is through that long-term approach to investment that we will be able to address the capacity issues that the school that the Member referenced is dealing with; indeed, schools across all Members' constituencies face capacity challenges.

Mr Middleton

Minister, it is important that we mitigate all the delays where possible. Will you outline why specialist provision accommodation is delayed?

Mr Givan

The delay in the delivery of accommodation to provide placements for SEN pupils can occur for a number of reasons. I outlined in the Assembly on 16 September that the number of children with SEN requiring placements far outstrips the number of available places. That can cause delay in naming a school where a placement can be provided. Working with the EA, we engaged with schools over the past year and a half, and that has identified the potential solutions. However, in some instances, it has been possible to confirm those only at a very late stage. That resulted in a compressed timeline for delivery, despite every effort being taken to expedite completion. That must also include necessary approvals and tender processes, and, unfortunately, it is not always feasible to deliver accommodation in time for the commencement of the academic year. There can be unforeseen events, such as the discovery of the electrical cable that I referenced, but the issue that we face is a lack of capacity across our school estate, particularly for special schools but also when it comes to specialist provision in mainstream settings. I outlined on 16 September a clear plan that will address that in the long term. We still have to react to need, which varies in certain parts of Northern Ireland — there is a higher level of need in some areas. We engage with schools, and I welcome the positive engagement that I have had with a number of school principals and the National Association of Head Teachers trade union, which has been proactive in seeking to engage with principals at a much earlier stage in the process. It is only through a collective effort by all of our schools, the Education Authority and my Department that we will be able to provide the right support for young people, who deserve it.

Mr Deputy Speaker (Dr Aiken)

Colin McGrath, you have 30 seconds.