Consultancy team for Holy Child improvements to be appointed this financial year
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00:00I have made funding available to progress the School Enhancement
00:02Programme project for Holychild Primary School through the design
00:06stages to pre-tender stage. A decision to release the tender will
00:09be taken on a case-by-case basis, dependent on budget availability at
00:14that time, and I will continue to make the case for additional capital
00:17funding for education through the Executive.
00:20Mr De Larghe.
00:21Minister, thank you for your answers. I appreciate that you have already
00:24dealt with SEP in quite a lot of detail here today. I should declare
00:28an interest as a member of the Board of Governors and as a former
00:30teacher in Holychild School as well. As part of the Board of Governors,
00:34we condemned several huts this summer and before because of black
00:39mould. This is something that I think many of your colleagues have
00:43touched on, but it is around how quickly EA reacted to that. If you
00:46could provide me with any more detail on that, it would be greatly
00:48appreciated.
00:51Thank you, Mr Speaker. I commend the Member for continuing to serve
00:54on the Board of Governors. I think it is important that elected reps,
00:57where they can, are able to do that because they can add value to the
01:01school that they are serving. The SEP process for this particular
01:07school has been highlighted. The tender process has begun for the
01:10appointment of an integrated consultancy team, and they will then
01:13take the project through the design and construction phases of the
01:16project. The ICT will be appointed before the end of this financial
01:22year. The Member highlighted a number of areas where they are
01:25continuing to work with EA to try to address some of those issues.
01:29If there is anything in particular, I would be happy to look at that
01:33particular matter for the Member's behalf with EA directly.
01:40Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answers thus far,
01:42and what sounds like progress to something that was initially
01:47announced in January 2020. That was one of the first announcements
01:54post a three-year collapse, and we have had a subsequent two-year
01:58collapse. Given that delay is the biggest driver of cost, will the
02:04Minister acknowledge that the political paralysis that has become
02:08all too familiar here has cost our public services, our education
02:12system and our children dearly?
02:17I very much want to make sure that this Executive is able to deliver on
02:21all of the key issues facing the citizens we serve. Over the past
02:26eight months, I think there is clear evidence that we have been able to
02:28do that. I cite for the Member's benefit the early learning and
02:32childcare strategy. This month, after a full month of being implemented,
02:37over £2 million went into the pockets of hard-working families.
02:41That is a sign that I brought the scheme forward. The Finance Minister
02:45and colleagues supported me to do that, and we are taking action.
02:48I also announced major capital spend in terms of a new strategy for
02:52special educational needs. We announced new capital builds. We are making
02:57progress on a whole range of areas, and I trust that that will be the case
03:01in the future. However, I say to the Member that in the past this
03:04Assembly did not operate the way that it should, and there were multiple
03:07occasions under the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party whenever this
03:10Assembly collapsed.