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Written question asked by Alasdair McDonnell (Social Democratic & Labour Party) on Friday, 14 July 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 July 2006. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Language Support

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the range and nature is of language support services available to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Northern Ireland; and how much was available for language support services in each Education and Library Board area in each of the last four academic years.
Answer

The Education and Library Boards (ELBs) are responsible for ensuring that appropriate support arrangements are in place for children who have significant difficulty with English as an additional language (EAL). The range and nature of language support services available to both primary and secondary schools varies within each ELB area. Some ELBs provide peripatetic teaching staff, some offer schools the opportunity to ““buy in”” peripatetic services, whilst others provide support through advisers. In addition, some Boards make available interpreting services in certain languages.The Department of Education provides earmarked funding, which must be used solely for English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision, to the Education and Library Boards. This funding was originally distributed equally across the five Boards but since 2004-05 funding has been distributed on a per capita basis for each EAL pupil recorded in the school census. The funding by ELB by financial year is shown in the following table:

Allocation
£
Board 2003-04 2004-05 (Allocated gradually) 2005-06 2006-07
BELB 80,000 110,000 159,000 160,000
NEELB 80,000 72,000 92,000 96,000
SEELB 80,000 85,000 112,000 96,000
SELB 80,000 85,000 153,000 177,000
WELB 80,000 58,000 54,000 52,000
Total 400,000 410,000 570,000 581,000

Since 2005-06 funding, additional to that provided to the ELBs, is given direct to schools through the Common Funding Formula. This funding, which is not earmarked, includes an EAL factor that targets resources directly to schools with EAL pupils. The cash value for each EAL pupil identified in the school census was £864 in 2005-06 and £912 in 2006-07. The funding by ELB by financial year is shown in the following table:

Allocations to schools
£
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
BELB¹ 73,000 129,000 432,000 614,000
NEELB — — 287,000 441,000
SEELB — — 344,000 379,000
SELB — — 462,000 885,000
WELB — — 162,000 218,000
Total 73,000 129,000 1,687,000 2,537,000
¹ BELB were the only funding authority to distribute resources to schools from an EAL factor within its Local Management Schools formula, prior to the introduction of Common Funding from 2005-06.

In addition, £100,000 has been allocated in 2006-07 and £75,000 in 2007-08 within the Children and Young People's Package for regional interpreting and translation of documents services for teachers, EAL pupils and their parents.The Department is working with the ELBs to develop a comprehensive policy and a proposal for a regional EAL service.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
86564; 449 c918-9W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Languages English language Northern Ireland Schools
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk