To ask the Minister of Education what steps she is taking to enable and encourage school facilities to be used by the wider community during school holidays and weekends.

It is the aim of the Department of Education to maximise the use of the schools estate for the benefit of local communities, encouraging and supporting schools to provide wider access to school facilities including school halls, where possible, primarily outside of normal school hours. However, the Department cannot require schools to open premises to third parties. Decisions relating to the use of school premises ultimately rest with an individual school’s Board of Governors.

My Department published a Guidance Toolkit in 2014 to help schools enhance the community use of their premises and provide advice in dealing with the practical issues involved. It has been designed to encourage schools to realise the benefits of making school premises available for use by the local community, provide advice and assistance to school leaders in dealing with the practical issues involved, and outline good practice examples of schools which already successfully provide community access to their facilities.

The Education Authority provides advice and support, where appropriate, to schools in dealing with the practical aspects connected with making school premises more widely available for use by community organisations. It has commenced a review of the community use of school arrangements, which is at an early stage. The review will consider a range of areas with a view to assisting and encouraging schools to increase the use of their premises by the community.