Source · Select Committees · Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Deferred
Paragraph: 25
Require Northern Ireland Executive to prioritise SEN pupil numbers in education funding allocation.
Recommendation
After years of under-investment, the education sector has been struggling to fulfil its statutory duties. Spending per pupil has been consistently lower in Northern Ireland than in England. We are particularly concerned about the future of provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN), with the number of pupils with SEN growing by 60% over the last ten years and this trend only likely to continue. SEN provision makes up a significant amount of EA spending. We recommend, as did our predecessor committee in 2019, that the Northern Ireland Executive take proper account of the increasing numbers of children with SEN in Northern Ireland when allocating budgetary funding to the Department of Education.
Government Response Summary
The UK Government's response did not address the recommendation for the Northern Ireland Executive to account for increasing SEN pupil numbers in education funding, instead quoting a different recommendation without providing a specific reply.
Paragraph Reference:
25
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
3. “We therefore invite both the Government and Northern Ireland Executive in response to this report to set out their assessment of this future funding. We also recommend the introduction of a statutory duty on the Department of Health to publish an assessment of its health and social care workforce projections.” UK Government response: