To ask the Minister of Education (i) when funding for the education of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities will be made available for the next academic year; and (ii) whether every child with special educational needs or disabilities will have a suitable place in a school that will comprehensively meet their needs from the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

Departments’ opening budgets for 2024-25 have only recently been agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive and I will very shortly make final budget decisions with regard to the pressures the department currently faces. Key stakeholders (e.g. the Education Authority (EA) and schools) will be notified of their final opening allocations for 2024-25 shortly thereafter.

Children with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) follow a different process (to the open enrolment schools admissions process) to secure a school placement which considers the most appropriate school placement to meet their needs as set out in their statement, in consultation with parents and schools. This is on an individual basis for each child with a statement of SEN.

The situation for September 2024 remains very challenging with latest EA planning assumptions indicating that almost 5,800 children with a statement of SEN require a change of placement for September 2024, with an estimated 1,000 additional places needed across Northern Ireland to meet this demand. There has been significant progress made in agreeing solutions with schools to meet this demand through the creation of additional capacity in special schools and new specialist provision in mainstream schools (SPiMS). Focused work continues to secure solutions for September 2024 and the EA continues to work at pace on a significant programme of work to create additional specialist education places in both special schools and SPiMS for the 2024/25 academic year.

Meeting this demand will require the widespread support of schools and my officials recently wrote to all nursery, primary and post-primary schools requesting that they consider their capacity to establish specialist provision and what support they require to do so. They are awaiting the results of a short survey which will help identify further options for exploration.