Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of places in integrated schools in Northern Ireland.

The Government firmly believes every parent should have a proper choice of schools for their children, which is not reflected in the current level of integrated education provision standing at 7% of school places in Northern Ireland. The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is very clear that greater integration within education is an essential aspect of the reconciliation process.

For this reason, as part of the Stormont House and Fresh Start Agreements, the Government committed to provide up to £500 million of funding to support shared and integrated education capital projects. This work is actively supporting the construction of 23 integrated schools and five shared campuses, in addition to a further £2 million in programme funding announced last year to support the development of integrated education.