AQW 11337/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 03/05/2024
Answered On Date: 08/05/2024
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail how much resource funding was allocated to the nine resource bids his Department made as part of the Department of Finance information gathering exercise to inform the Executive’s consideration of Budget 2024-25.

Answer:

The recently agreed Executive Budget provides the Department with an additional resource allocation of £296.3m, over and above the anticipated, flat-cash budget. This general resource allocation is not specifically linked to any of the nine resource bids, which my Department had previously submitted to the Department of Finance.

In the Minister of Finance’s Written Ministerial Statement of 25 April 2024, the EA Pay and Grading Review is specifically mentioned. Specifically, the Minister of Finance advises that while no funding has been allocated for this pressure, the Executive has agreed to seek approval from HM Treasury to reprofile some of the repurposed funds provided in the Executive restoration financial package for this purpose.