To ask the Minister of Education to detail the process by which she determined the 28 schools that are to benefit from the Major Capital Works Programme.

The eligibility and scoring criteria were set out in the Protocol which was published in advance of the call for Major Capital Works being launched.

The latest call closed on 14 January 2022 and by the closing date, thirty four school nominations were received. The nominated schools were assessed against the Gateway criteria in the Protocol and six schools which did not meet the eligibility criteria were subsequently ruled out during this assessment.

On 21 March, I was pleased to announce that all of the remaining 28 schools which had passed the eligibility assessment would be taken forward for major capital investment.