To ask the Minister of Education (i) whether there will be an Engage III Programme in the 2022-23 academic year; and (ii) when will school principals be advised to allow for appropriate planning and adjustments.

The Engage programme has been extremely successful to date, with more than £24 million provided to 1,700 educational settings this academic year. Engage has ensured that our children and young people have been provided with a range of support to reduce the impact which the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their educational experience and learning.

I issued a Direction to my officials for the Engage programme to continue to December 2022. The Department of Finance approved that Direction on 6 July 2022, and I am delighted that I have been able to allocate £10million to continue the programme until the end of December 2022. I have recently written to schools and settings to inform them.

It is my intention that the programme will continue until the end of the academic year. However, as this remains subject to the necessary funding being made available, settings are not able to commit to expenditure beyond December 2022. I will update schools on the budget position for the rest of the academic year as soon as I am in a position to do so.