To ask the Minister of Education for an update on the adoption of a Unique Learner Number as part of the development of a system to track student progress, particularly those at risk of not being in education, employment or training.

My Department is working on the introduction of a Unique Learner Number (ULN) for all learners in the north of Ireland at Year 11 and above. In taking forward this work, the Department established a pilot exercise involving up to 25 post-primary schools during 2013/14. This pilot was subsequently extended to 2014/15 to allow for IT developments and to optimise participation from schools.

Progress to date has been positive and the outcomes of the pilot are being evaluated to help inform decisions on the full roll out of the ULN across all schools here.