AQW 33584/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 15/10/2025
Answered On Date: 29/10/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) any work (a) being undertaken; or (b) planned to be undertaken, this year under the heading Trial and implementation of a Speech, Language & Communication Programme including the introduction of Toolkits, within the SEN Reform Agenda and Delivery Plan 2025-2030; and (ii) what will be delivered by this project.

Answer:

The ‘Trial and Implementation of a Speech, Language & Communication Programme including the introduction of Toolkits’ is an early priority action in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Reform Delivery Plan and one of 13 projects funded by the Public Sector Transformation Fund (PSTF).

This initiative will deliver a range of digitised resources and screeners for schools to support children’s speech, language and communication development and help them to identify any needs in this area.

Officials are engaging with the Education Authority (EA) who have developed proposals for this project, which is expected to commence in term 2 of the 2025/26 academic year.