AQW 28114/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Education
To ask the Minister of Education for an update on the Special Educational Needs Capital Investment Programme.
Asked by Michelle Guy MLA on 3 June 2025
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 3 June 2025
- Answer due by
- 18 June 2025
- Answered
- 9 June 20256 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Education
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Almost £49m was invested in my SEN capital programme in 2024/25 and I have allocated a further £70m in 2025/26.
Annual Maintenance & Equipment Programme
Circa £3m in furniture and equipment grants was provided to special schools and mainstream schools with new specialist provision classes. A programme of planned and continuous maintenance was also delivered across the special school estate, including an ambitious £2m programme of works to facilitate and improve access to the outdoors including landscaping and new pathways, play and sensory areas.
Specialist Provision
Over 1,450 new places in both special and mainstream schools were created by the Education Authority for September 2024, with building works delivered to establish 114 new specialist provision in mainstream classes in 110 primary and post-primary schools and an additional 67 classrooms created in special schools across Northern Ireland.
My officials continue to work at pace with Education Authority colleagues on delivering capital solutions to enable more new specialist provisions to open in September 2025.
School Enhancement Programme
The business cases were approved for the school enhancement projects (SEPs) at Thornfield House, Clifton School, Hill Croft School and Riverside School and in May 2025 construction commenced on the extension to Kilronan School.
I set aside the funding thresholds for SEPs in special schools and as a result, seven of the projects have now been expanded in scope.
New Special School Provision
The business case for the first of potentially four new special schools in Belfast is well advanced and it is currently anticipated that it will be submitted to my Department for approval in July 2025.
The long-term capital strategy for the special school estate is also well advanced, this includes individual Plans of Action for each special school and proposals for large scale extensions, refurbishments and new school builds. I hope to be in a position to provide a more full update on this in September 2025.