Influential MPs say: ‘Reverse Integrated Education funding cuts, boost funding and plan for Integrated Education properly.’

- Influential Northern Ireland Affairs Committee publishes letter after major inquiry into Integrated Education provision in Northern Ireland.

- MPs call for Integrated Education to be “properly resourced” after “years of underfunding”, they urge that recent Integrated Education funding cuts to be reversed and for the Department of Education to take Integrated Education planning seriously.

- Former students of Integrated Education welcome the letter and call for further action.

Integrated AlumNI, a network of past pupils and supporters of Integrated education, welcomes the findings from Sir Robert Buckland MP, Chair of Parliament’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. 

Robert Buckland’s letter to the Northern Ireland Office and the NI Department of Education comes following a major NI Affairs Committee inquiry into Integrated Education, where MPs heard evidence from Integrated Education advocates and past pupils of Integrated Education about the need to properly fund the sector and invest in Integrated Education as a key component of peacebuilding.

Last year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Integrated Education should be ‘the norm, not the exemption.’ But the Committee heard evidence that at the current rate of growth, it would be 200 years before 50% of NI children are in Integrated Education. Therefore, strong new measures are needed to expand Integrated Education, which polls consistently show is supported by a large majority of people in Northern Ireland.

The letter highlighted “years of underfunding” for Integrated Education and called for the Integrated sector “to be properly resourced.” The letter, published in lieu of a full report due to the General Election, urges the Northern Ireland Office to show its commitment to integrated education by addressing the funding gap.

Sadly, due to this historic lack of funding to meet demand, thousands more young people and their families won’t be getting their first choice in an Integrated school in September. 

The letter from the Committee comes months after the UK Government and NI Executive cut £150 million in funding for ten much-needed new buildings for Integrated schools, which was promised under the 2015 Fresh Start Agreement. The Committee calls for the Northern Ireland Office to reverse these funding cuts.

The Committee has also written to Northern Ireland’s Department of Education calling for a more strategic approach to Integrated Education and a clearer understanding of demand. 

Last year, Integrated AlumNI criticised the Department’s Integrated Education Action Plan as being paper thin, calling it an ‘Action Plan with no action.’ 

Adam McGibbon, a member of Integrated AlumNI, said:

“The Department’s previously published action plan (with no action) is part of the problem. It’s not just underfunding that has hindered Integrated Education, but a lack of will at all layers of politics and the civil service. Only a recognition of this can help us move forward and rectify it. This inquiry has shown the need to reverse Integrated Education funding cuts, properly resource Integrated Education as a key way of moving Northern Ireland forward, and for the Department of Education to take a more strategic approach to supporting Integrated Education. Now it’s over to them to take action.”