Single Education Body For NI Finally Agreed

The long-awaited Education and Skills Authority (ESA) looks like becoming a reality soon with the Chairman of the Education Committee and DUP Education Spokesman Mervyn Storey welcoming a 'memorandum of agreement' paving the way forward for the single education authority.

"For many years it has been clear that education in Northern Ireland can be better delivered by the creation of a single education authority.

"During the life of the last Assembly, the introduction of two Bills and the proposals they contained proved to be a road block to progress. Consequently we faced deadlock in moving forward.

"The previous legislation created deadlock because of the way in which the Controlled Sector was largely ignored. Under this agreement, the Controlled Sector is being treated in an equitable manner," he said, adding that deadlock has been broken and a sound basis has been laid down upon which to build.

"Moving forward upon the basis of amending the Education and Libraries Order (Northern Ireland) 1986, rather than enacting new legislation, preserves the historic roll of both the Transferors and Trustees, in setting the future direction of education in Northern Ireland. This is to be welcomed."

He was commenting as the First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness formally announced agreement on the establishment of the ESA.

Yesterday they said: "We are providing this to enable greater clarity and certainty for the Education sector going forward."

It emerged that the Stormont Education Minister will table legislation to give effect to agreed arrangements in education to establish a single body - the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) which would subsume the functions, assets and liabilities of eight bodies: The Education and Library Boards; Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS); Staff Commission and the Youth Council.

The Department of Education will continue to be the policy making body while ESA's focus will be on management and service delivery.

ESA will also be the single employing authority of all staff in all grant aided schools. Board of governor's role will be enshrined in legislation as set out in the draft, The Education (Employment Schemes) Regulations 2010 and the ESA's key functions are to include raising standards and area planning, and it is to be the single authority for those functions.

Sectoral support bodies will be established for the controlled and maintained sector.

The legislation will contain provisions guaranteeing a role in the discharge of certain functions for the Trustee Support Body for Catholic Schools and the Controlled Sector Support Body/Transferors and a Policy Memorandum will be presented to the Executive for approval with a target date of July 2012 for completion of legislation.

(BMcC/GK)