To ask the Minister of Education for an update on the proposed new build for Malone Integrated College.

Mr Givan

A technical feasibility report is being prepared by the project integrated consultant team in order to identify options and costs to provide suitable accommodation for Malone Integrated College. Once the feasibility report is complete, a review of the options identified will be undertaken by the Department's technical advisers. The technical feasibility report is due to be completed in October of this year. A business case to identify the preferred option will then be taken forward.

Mr Givan

I agree with the Member's sentiments on the need for progress to be made on the school. We are at the point of completing the stage 1 process, but there are other stages to go through. I want that to advance so that the project is subject to moving forward on a construction process when the capital budget is available. We are not at that stage, so I will not say to Members, "Give me more capital funding, and I could deliver this school". We still need to go through the various stages before I can make the case either for identifying the capital funding within my Department or for making a bid to the wider Executive as part of the Budget process for capital funding to be released, but I absolutely share the sentiments expressed by the Member.

Mr O'Toole

Minister, Malone is a brilliant school, and it really deserves a new building. Is it not the case that, if the approvals go through, Malone will be added to a capital list that is already heavily oversubscribed? Can you give Malone and other schools in the constituency, including St Joseph's College on the Ravenhill Road, some sense of when progress will be made on that list? If you say that there is too much constraint, at least be honest today by and say when, you think, that might be delivered.

Mr Givan

It is not about Malone being added to a list; it is one of many schools that are on that list. Of the 28 post-primary schools on the list that were identified for new build, only seven have moved forward to the various design stages — 21 schools have not advanced at all — and the 28 post-primary schools sit alongside primary schools on the list. The list is extensive. If we were to continue with the current projected capital expenditure, it would take decades to deliver what is already on the list of schools that require a new build. That is why I have not been able, much as I would like to, to open up a new call for schools to indicate that they require a new build. There are many schools that deserve a new build, but, because of the insufficient funding, we have not been able to do that. Capital funding has been given a SEN-first priority. We have spent £114 million on special educational needs provision to provide capacity in the school estate. That was not additional funding that we were given. That funding could have been spent on other capital projects, but we — rightly, in my opinion — have to use it to meet the needs of children with special needs. They have had the first call on that funding. That is why the challenge, collectively, goes out to the wider Executive. Whilst Members will rightly vociferously campaign for new builds in their constituencies, when it comes to the reality of decisions that are being taken in the Executive by their leaderships, that is not reflected in the allocation that comes to my Department. That is the honesty that people in the Chamber need to have about the reality of the decision-making process in the Executive.

Mr Martin

First, I thank the Minister for being in my constituency last week. His visits were excellent, and I know that the boards of governors and the principals very much appreciated them. Minister, in a slight segue, you just referred to the capital list. How many schools in Northern Ireland are on that capital list and what is their status on it?

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for having me in North Down and giving me the opportunity to visit the schools that I was able to attend. I thank him for the work that he does to campaign for those schools. To give the precise number, 103 projects have been announced under the major capital programme since 2012. A further 11 projects were transferred from Fresh Start funding to the programme in 2024. Of those 114 projects, 40 are complete; seven are on site or have appointed a contractor; 14 are at the technical design and pre-tender stage; nine are at the spatial coordination and detailed design stage; six are at the concept design stage; 14 are at the preparation and brief stage; and 22 are on hold. One project is awaiting an integrated consultant team appointment, and another has returned to the strategic definition stage following reconsideration of the size of the school that is required and planning requirements on the preferred site that was identified. That outlines in detail the significant pipeline of work and the insufficient funding that has been allocated to my Department to take those projects forward, never mind wanting to add further capital projects that the education system requires and deserves.

Mr Beattie

That answer was really interesting and, in many ways, answers my question. It is the type of question that allows us to bounce around constituency areas, as the Minister well knows. I have written to him about Portadown Integrated Nursery and Primary School, which has already jumped through all of the hoops that it needs to jump through and is waiting for the land to be purchased for its rebuild. Is the Minister able to give us a timeline on any progress for that school?

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for his question. He and others in Upper Bann have asked that question of me. That school is at the point at which it requires capital funding. It has completed all four of the stages that need to be completed. There is an issue regarding the council about the final site, but, like a number of schools, it is at the point at which it can move forward if there is capital funding available to do so. Frustrating as it is, the school is at a much more advanced stage than many other schools, but it is still waiting to get the green light as a result of my Department's insufficient capital allocation.