AQW 5496/16-21

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 17/10/2016
Answered On Date: 24/10/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to outline the criteria used to determine whether a school requires capital investment.

Answer:

The criteria used to determine whether a school requires capital investment will depend on the Ministerial priorities and budget availability at any given time.

Before a project can be considered for capital investment, it must first be prioritised by the school’s Managing Authority and submitted to the Department, in response to a call for projects.

The Department’s ‘Protocol for the Selection of Major Works Projects to Proceed in Planning’ is then applied to all projects submitted. The Protocol includes a ‘gateway’ check to exclude any projects where uncertainties exist around sustainability, area planning and school size.

Those projects that are successful in the ‘gateway’ check are scored under the Department’s Protocol, and ranked. Selection is then subject to the capital budget availability.

The Protocol is available on the Department’s website at the following link https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/protocol-selection-major-works-projects

The Department does not hold ‘waiting lists’ of capital projects which were previously unsuccessful in securing funding and there are no plans for a further capital announcement at present given the substantial size of the current Major Capital Investment Programme.