AQO 1530/22-27

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 30/01/2025
Answered On Date: 12/02/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to outline what his Department is doing to support children from displaced families, who have to change schools at short notice as a result of being allocated alternative housing arrangements in a different location.

Answer:

The Department recognises the additional challenges faced by children who have been moved a significant distance from their school as a result of leaving Home Office provided accommodation and entering Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) accommodation.

DE works closely with the Education Authority’s (EA) Intercultural Education Service (IES), in providing funding and support to help assist children who are in this position, to access education.

Families who are displaced due to move-on are supported in accessing new school places for their children by the IES who assist families in making school admission applications, school uniforms grants, home-to-school transport solutions and free school meals application. In addition, the NIHE works with the EA, through a data sharing agreement, to minimise disruption for families where possible.

The Department continues to engage regularly with The Executive Office (TEO) and other NICS departments to ensure the needs of children seeking sanctuary are met. DE officials attend a fortnightly meeting with NIHE, TEO, the EA and other Departments to focus on issues caused by the displacement of families at the point they achieve the right to remain in Northern Ireland. The group focuses on operational issues in ensuring such families can access public services, including education.