Education Minister ignored official advice when he agreed to meet the Loyalist Communities Council

UTV can reveal that the Education Minister Paul Givan ignored the advice of officials in his department when he agreed to meet the Loyalist Communities Council at Parliament Buildings in September.

Documents just released to UTV, also show that while the Minister met the LCC six months after the initial meeting request was made, he had agreed to it within weeks.

The Education Minister Paul Givan and his DUP party colleague Communities Minister Gordon Lyons both faced heavy criticism from other political parties for agreeing to meet the Chairman of the LCC David Campbell and other representatives from the group.

The Loyalist Communities Council represents Loyalist paramilitary groups including the UDA and UVF, and was set up in 2015. It says it is committed to helping the groups they represent transition away from violence and crime.

There was particular criticism of the Education Minister when it was confirmed the LCC had raised its objections to an Irish language school in east Belfast.

Other community organisations also expressed frustrations that they had been seeking meetings with both DUP ministers which have not been granted.

Both the LCC and the ministers said the meetings were to discuss educational underachievement in loyalist areas, as well as social and economic deprivation in communities.

However, within days of the initial request from the Chairman of the LCC to meet the Education Minister Paul Givan, an official drew up a ‘Quick Advice’ document for the Minister.  

In it, the official wrote, ‘It is recommended that you should decline the invitation’.

The official then cites, ‘It is not entirely clear what specific issues Mr Campbell would wish to discuss’ as the reason for declining the meeting.

The person who gave the advice works in the Department of Education’s Tackling Educational Disadvantage Team.

The Chairman of the LCC David Campbell told UTV last month, he first requested the meetings with the ministers on the 1st March 2024, just weeks after they took up office on the return to Stormont.  

The documents released to UTV through a freedom of information request show that by the 4th March officials were already discussing whether the meeting should take place. 

The ‘Quick Advice’ recommendation that the minister should not hold the meeting was sent to his special advisor on the 6th March.

Officials also drew up two versions of a letter of response for the minister to sign. One agreeing to the meeting, and one declining citing ‘diary pressures’ as the reason the meeting could not take place.  

Paul Givan signed the letter accepting the invitation to meet on the 17th May. Eleven weeks after the request was first made.

The meeting between the Education Minister Paul Givan and representatives of the Loyalist Communities Council took place on the 24th September at Parliament Buildings.

Minutes of the meeting, also seen by UTV, are very short.

The one A4 side page lists those who attended the meeting as the Minister, his special advisor and private secretary.

It also lists those representing the Loyalist Communities Council - its chairman David Campbell, Robert Williamson, Bobby Rodgers and Jackie McDonald.

It lists in a short paragraph the matters discussed. They included educational underachievement in north and west Belfast; absenteeism in schools post-Covid; the RAISE programme; the Fair Start report; Early Years interventions; the Bright Spark programme; the Labour Party manifesto commitment to provide a mental health worker for every school.

The minutes then state that the LCC Chairman David Campbell 'reported the lack of community support for an Irish Medium school in East Belfast which is causing polarity and volatility in the community'.

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