To ask the Minister of Education to detail the reason for the delay in taking forward the proposal for an Independent Commission into a sustainable school estate.

I accepted the Independent Review of Education (IRE) panel’s recommendation (no. 20) to reconfigure the network of schools ‘in principle’. The panel determined that Northern Ireland currently has too many non-viable small schools and too many small sixth forms. To tackle this problem – which has both educational and financial dimensions – the Panel stated that we need a new approach to Area Planning.

As part of the considerations that lead to recommendation 20 the IRE panel proposed the establishment of an Independent Planning Commission to take the lead in developing a Northern Ireland wide plan for a new network of schools.

Current plans to reconfigure the network of schools, in line with my Department’s priorities, are detailed in the Strategic Area Plan and the Education Authority’s published Operational Plans. These plans and associated actions will run through to August 2027.

My Department has set out its proposals for a Five-Year Education Budget Strategy. Consultation on the strategy closes on 3 April 2026. The strategy includes proposals to restructure the school estate and within that context a Commission may be appointed to lead on this work. I will make a decision on the establishment of a Commission after the responses to the consultation have been considered.