AQW 45891/22-27 Written question to the Minister of Education

To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) the number of Specialist Provision in Mainstream Schools (SPiMS) created; and (ii) the amount of money spent on SPiMS, in each of the last three years.

Asked by Michelle Guy MLA on 8 May 2026

  • Answered
  • Written
  • After due date
Tabled
8 May 2026
Answer due by
26 May 2026
Answered
9 June 202632 days after tabling
Department
Department of Education
Priority question
No

Answer

The Education Authority has advised that the number of Specialist Provisions created over the last three years was 101 in 2023, 114 in 2024 and 131 in 2025.

Recurrent costs for the last three years were £34,446,769 in 2022/23, £43,552,105 in 2023/24 and £62,654,591 in 2024/25.

The capital expenditure on Specialist Provisions was £4,853,018 in 2023/24 and £11,803,498 in 2024/25. Prior to 2023/24 financial year, coding was not in place to separately identify expenditure on Specialist Provisions.

Official sources