AQW 29230/22-27


Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford


Tabled Date: 25/06/2025
Answered On Date: 09/07/2025
Priority Written: Yes


Question:
To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the work that has been undertaken to date to understand the needs of children in special schools.


Answer:
Following engagement with stakeholders late last year, my Chief Nursing Officer commissioned the Public Health Agency (PHA) to work alongside colleagues within the Education sector to undertake a review of the population health needs of children attending Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools in Northern Ireland and the current nursing contribution in meeting their health needs.
A draft version of the PHA’s findings has been submitted to my Department and is currently being assessed by the Chief Nursing Officer. While some further refinements, data collection and analysis are likely to be required I expect the report to be finalised and provided to me later in the summer.
In addition to this work, as part of its normal function the PHA, in partnership with Education sector colleagues, is leading a comprehensive analysis of the therapeutic needs of children with Special Educational Needs in Special Schools as set out in my response to AQW 29514/22-27.
This work is supported within each Trust by identified Project Leads, with four of these posts having been recruited to, and the remaining Trust actively engaged in recruitment procedures.
The PHA is actively collaborating with colleagues in the Education Authority (EA) and HSC Trusts to agree and develop clear and timely arrangements to facilitate the secure exchange of relevant, up to date child specific educational based data (in line with GDPR requirements) which is key in supporting this exercise.
Joint working with key stakeholders across EA and HSCTs has facilitated the development and testing of a robust data capture tool that will collate HSCT data sets alongside that provided by EA. This tool has completed a testing phase and is ready to be implemented by HSCT SEN Project Managers.
Both these exercises will provide evidence-based assessments of the complex healthcare and therapeutic needs of children and young people in SEN schools, to inform a wider, child centred multidisciplinary understanding, which in turn will help support decisions around how to best meet the population health needs.