To ask the Minister of Education to detail why the Education Authority does not undertake the process or cover the associated expenses of Access NI checks for school crossing patrols.

The Education Authority has confirmed that it undertakes pre-employment vetting for regulated positions working in or providing a service for schools which includes school crossing patrol attendants.

The Executive’s Budget has been reduced by the Westminster Government by £1.5bn over the last five years. As a direct result of this reduction there is significantly reduced money to spend on frontline services such as Education. I have taken every action possible to protect Education funding and those frontline services within the Department of Education’s remit. However, it is simply impossible to protect everything and it is for this reason that it has not been possible to meet the cost of vetting checks for paid employees working in/for schools.