To ask the Minister of Education to outline his Department's plans to increase post-primary places in South Belfast to meet current and projected future demands.

Mr Givan

Area planning is the process of strategic planning of primary and post-primary education provision. The process has been developed to support the implementation of the sustainable schools policy. The Department requires the statutory planning authorities — the Education Authority and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools — working with the managing authorities and the sectoral support bodies, to identify future education needs and develop solutions to meet those needs on an area basis.

Mr Givan

That is a valid point. I know about that from my constituency, where there are two grammar schools that are heavily oversubscribed, so that often people are not able to get into the school of their choice, which, at times, creates frustration. The issue that the Member has articulated in relation to South Belfast is reflected in other constituencies. When we consider increasing enrolment in some schools — we have been and still are doing that in South Belfast to address some of the capacity issues — we need to take into account what impact that could have on another school. The process always involves looking at the implications of development proposals to increase enrolment and what they might mean for the wider area. Such things are not often straightforward. When I looked at the overall post-primary admissions process, I saw that 12 children remained to be placed in South Belfast but a total of 45 year 8 places remained available. Places are not always in the parents' school of choice, and I recognise that that can create tension and cause difficulty. We need to look at those things in the round, however, and consider the implications for all schools.

Mrs Erskine

Hopefully, the Speaker will allow me some latitude for this question, as it points to school places. Last week, the Minister made a decision on closing Lack Primary School. I have spoken to a number of parents who are concerned about the lack of school places in controlled schools in the area. Will the Minister act to increase school places? What is his Department doing to support parents, pupils and staff through the process?

Mr Speaker

That was about 80 miles of latitude [Laughter.]

I will leave it to the Minister to decide whether he wishes to answer.

Mr Givan

I am happy to speak on that, Mr Speaker. I thank the Member for the work that she does to represent her constituents. I understand that such decisions can be difficult. A number of decisions were taken last week that caused controversy, and a lot of views were expressed on them. Amongst those, I closed schools, one of which was Lack. I do not take those decisions lightly. In taking that decision, however, I made it clear that there needs to be support for the families, particularly the children, to enable them to transition to alternative schools as seamlessly as possible. If it requires temporary variations to ensure that children are placed in a suitable school, I will, of course, take that forward. The Education Authority is working through those decisions and seeking to support those families and children. Where I need to take decisions to facilitate that, I absolutely will.

Mr O'Toole

Minister, in your answer to Paula Bradshaw, you talked about the statistics for South Belfast. Are you, your Department and the Education Authority actively looking at the huge increase in housing that we will see in South Belfast? On the stretch up the Saintfield Road to Four Winds, Newtownbreda and Carryduff, thousands of homes are going in. Can we look at that proactively to ensure that there will be school capacity in the constituency and in neighbouring schools such as Lagan College, Our Lady and St Pat's and Inst to support the huge increase in housing and young families that we will see in our area?

Mr Givan

I outlined the process for area planning. It is critical that the managing authorities look at that kind of information and plan for and address what the needs will be in their community. They must also look at the particular sectors to make sure that provide parental choice in that regard. I responded to an Adjournment debate that Ms Bradshaw secured on the issue, speaking at length on some of the decisions that we are taking to provide that. Yes, we need to make sure that that forward planning is done to meet the needs of the local community, but we cannot take South Belfast in isolation. A significant number of pupils from my constituency access schools in Belfast. It is their choice and their right to do that. We need to consider all those things and look at the implications for other schools. A clear legal process is laid out as to how to do that. I will continue to support the managing authorities and take decisions, as appropriate, to facilitate that.