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Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

Education funding in Northern Ireland inquiry

Closed Opened 1 Aug 2018 Closed 17 Jul 2019

Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
The inquiry into education funding in Northern Ireland follows the passage of the Government’s Northern Ireland Budget Act, which set out funding for NI departments, including education, up until 31 March 2019. The inquiry examined whether the levels of funding allocated to education in the Northern Ireland Budget are sufficient to meet the challenges facing the sector, and what the spending priorities should be for the monies allocated to the NI Department of Education.

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 1 August 2018.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 9th Report - Education funding in Northern Ireland on 22 July 2019.

The government's response

Published 21 October 2019.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Secretary of State sets out that Northern Ireland education funding and most of the Committee's requested actions are devolved matters, with the Northern Ireland Office saying it has no power to direct spending or make the relevant regulations.

  • On regulations under the 2016 SEN Act and on the Children's Strategy, the Secretary of State says he "has no power to make these regulations or to lay them before Parliament" and cannot adopt the strategy in place of the Executive.
  • On multi-year budgets, the response states the upcoming spending round "will be for a period of one year", with multi-year allocations "a matter for an incoming NI Executive to consider".
  • On carry-over of underspends, the 2019-20 budget includes flexibility to switch £130m capital to resource and to carry forward up to £85m resource and £8m capital from 2018-19.
  • The Department of Education says it will issue a call for major capital projects in September 2019, and the Department of Education says it "accepts this recommendation in part" on a staff health and wellbeing strategy, building on work by the Education Authority.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 6 oral evidence sessionsLatest 13 March 2019
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

6 sessions

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Date Session and witnesses Source
13 Mar 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
27 Feb 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
9 Jan 2019
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
5 Dec 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
31 Oct 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗
10 Oct 2018
Oral evidence session
No witnesses recorded 		View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters

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PublishedDirectionLetter
15 May 2019 Not recorded Correspondence from Derek Baker, Permanent Secretary, Department of Education Northern Ireland, regarding inquiry into education funding in Northern Ireland, 29 April 2019
16 Nov 2018 Not recorded Correspondence from the Chair of the Education Authority regarding education funding in Northern Ireland