A Crisis Consultation launched on Education budget allocation
Amidst an unprecedented funding crises across government Departments, the Department of Education civil servants running the department in absence of a minister due to the impasse over the NI Assembly, have launched a consultation process which will ultimately be fed back to the Secretary of Stare for NI.
The Department of Education has launched a public consultation focussing on the equality implications following the announcement by the Secretary of State on the 2023-24 budget allocations.
The Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) sets out the Department’s assessment of the impact of the Budget on services across the whole education sector.
In what is the most challenging overall budget in recent history, the Department of Education, its Arm’s Length Bodies and Third-Party Organisations face unprecedented funding challenges and cuts in 2023-24.
For the Department, the 2023-24 Budget allocation results in a funding gap in excess of £300million for 2023-24.
Managing resource shortfalls of this magnitude will undoubtedly have a significant and adverse impact on the Department’s ability to deliver educational services in 2023-24. It will affect all sections of education from Special Needs to Third Level degree courses.
This consultation will be of relevance to parents with children who are in the Special Needs category and who have not yet been allocated places to Primary One classes despite other children having been allocated places in April 2023.
The purpose of this EQIA is to present the decisions required by the Department to live within its 2023-24 Budget allocation and the potential impact to people in Section 75 categories of those decisions on the services and supports the Department provides.
The Department welcomes your views on any aspects of the document and will use any comments to inform the Department’s decision making.
Interested parties should respond to the consultation by 13 August 2023.
The consultation can be accessed at:
