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Northern Ireland: Integrated Schools

My Lords, I take what my noble friend is saying, and we can look further into the figures. As I said, decisions on those individual schools were made earlier in the year and they were fully explained at the time. That does not mean that the Government do not support or are not in favour of integrated education. I want to complete what I have to say, because I want to answer the points that have been legitimately raised about the surplus places. The figures used have been correct. Demographics tell us that the number of children is falling. There are currently 50,000 surplus school places. Pupil numbers are set to decline by a further 30,000 in the next 10 years, so there will be a surplus of 80,000, which is quite unsustainable. As the noble Lord, Lord Smith, said, it costs almost twice as much to educate in this way, and we do not spend the money on education; we are spending it on empty places and doubling up on everything. Unless we address the consequences of falling school rolls, low vocational skills, vacant school places and limited access to a broad curriculum, we will be incapable of delivering the skills and standards necessary for Northern Ireland to have a prosperous future. The segregation of the school system comes at a high price, particularly at a time of surplus capacity and falling rolls, which make it more difficult. We need to explore new ways of schooling which involve sharing facilities. With respect, I say to my noble friend that I agree with every word that she said, but it is about a lot more than just sharing sports halls. If there is a way to break the segregation, it has to be making better use of resources. If I remember right—I am speaking from memory now—80 primary schools in Northern Ireland have fewer than 45 pupils. You cannot provide a rounded education with such small schools; something has to give. Answers are coming from Sir George Bain—I hope—who was asked by the Secretary of State early in the year to examine the education system and funding in Northern Ireland. He will focus on the strategic planning and organisation of the estate, taking into account curriculum changes and falling rolls and how best to meet the duty to encourage and facilitate integrated education. The remit of the review will envelop the Government’s commitments under A Shared Future, which sets out the Government’s policy and strategic framework for good relations in Northern Ireland. A Shared Future recognises the balance to be struck between parental choice and the additional costs and potential diseconomies that the diversity of provision generates. In improving school planning, we must tackle the challenges of addressing parental choice and falling rolls. We will plan and develop school buildings to provide replacement schools or amalgamations in the context of the investment strategy for Northern Ireland. We need to explore the options of how those assets could contribute to our objective in A Shared Future. While we remain committed to the duty to encourage and facilitate integrated education, we recognise that integrated education is one important model, and there will be other ways of sharing. Our ultimate aim must be to ensure that we are integrating education provision across the board more effectively and for the benefit of Northern Ireland and its people today and in the future. As I said initially, it is important that the parents have a choice; but the parents need a little bit of education at the same time.