Northern Ireland schools given 'no comfort' for new build funds by secretary of state, says minister

The education minister has said the secretary of state has not provided "any comfort" to him or "schools impacted" by the withdrawal of funding for integrated and shared building projects.

Paul Givan also outlined that the Strule Shared Education Campus "does not yet have the reassurance" on funding.

The minister made the comments while giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning.

Last month he confirmed to MLAs that money, initially allocated through the Fresh Start Agreement, had been reallocated as part of the Treasury's £3.3bn financial package for the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont.

In a statement issued to UTV on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Office said: “The UK Government has removed the ring-fence from £150m of the Fresh Start funding package as opposed to individual projects, but will continue to provide the full £500m to the Northern Ireland Executive.

"It is now for the Executive to decide however how to deploy £150m of this funding, which had been due to run out in 2025 if we had not provided this financial package to the Northern Ireland parties."

Speaking to MPs on Tuesday morning, Paul Givan said that shortly after taking up his ministerial role he was made aware that unspent "ring-fenced funding that had been announced by the UK Government" as part of Fresh Start had now been "rolled into the wider package of £3.3bn".

"Therefore we in education have lost that protection, that money that was there, it is no longer available to my department," said Mr Givan.

"I am having to bid for that as part of the wider budgetary process," he added.

"I do believe that puts my department at a very distinct disadvantage and it also undermines the UK Government's commitment to supporting integrated and shared education as a result of the un-ringfencing of that funding," he told MPs.

"I raised that publicly and I entered correspondence with the secretary of state outlining my concern about the approach that had been taken, I have received a response, as of four days ago, from the secretary of state which doesn't give any comfort to me or the schools impacted," said Mr Givan.

"The response continues to hold the line that that is funding which is available to the executive to decide how it wants to spent that money."

The education minister also outlined that "there were a number of schools already contractually committed which the Treasury will stand over" which he said "equates to around nearly £300m in terms of what is contractually committed and the Treasury will honour that".

"There are ten schools that I have then moved into my major capital schemes within the department," explained Mr Givan.

"They will continue to advance as will other projects in terms of their design stage and I will take them to the point where, they can be, to use the term, 'shovel ready' and when finance comes available then they can be allocated funding but they are there alongside all the other main capital projects within my department of which there are over 50

"I can understand why those schools feel aggrieved, I share that grievance, that having been identified through fresh start funding they are now part of my wider capital programme and I have to make bids to the executive to secure that."

He added: "The one outstanding major shared scheme that hasn’t been been yet afforded that reassurance they will advance is the Strule campus which is hugely significant.

"I think that is a flagship project for the executive over the past decade.

"We are at a very advanced stage in terms of that process and I have been seeking executive approval to identify the funding for that as part of an executive funding stream because my department does not have the money, it could not stand over the magnitude of what we need for that.

"It needs to be agreed by the executive, and therefore Strule at the moment is the one projects, as part of that wider Fresh Start scheme which does not yet have the reassurance that I would like to give it."

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