Message to us from Michelle McIlveen MLA for Strangford 18.03.10

I would like to thank you for the fantastic job that you, other parents and interested parties have done to raise the public profile of this very important issue. This is a matter that has been and will continue to be of great concern to me and my Party colleagues. It was extremely heartening that so many parents were able to take time out of their busy schedules to attend at the debate on Monday. I know that many would have liked to have been able to come. The following is a link to the debate:

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/record/reports2009/100315.htm#4

I was very pleased that we were able to obtain cross-Party support for our calls on the Minister to reconsider her decision. This is due in no small part to the lobbying power of parents and I would encourage you to keep up this fantastic effort.

Mervyn Storey, Chairman of the Education Committee, and I met with the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson following the debate on Prep Department funding to discuss the way forward in relation to current crisis created by the Education Minister. A number of options were discussed depending on the actions of the Minister - however, what we can confirm is that Sammy is awaiting legal opinion from the Departmental Solicitors Office clarifying whether or not the Minister has breached the Ministerial Code by refusing to bring this issue to the Executive. We would contend that she is required to bring the matter to her Executive colleagues as the issue is novel and contentious and failure to this puts her breach of the Code. This legal opinion is due early next week. If the Minister chooses to ignore the legal advice it is our view that this would provide the basis for an application for judicial review of her decision.

The Minister and her Party colleagues stated in the debate that the decision will be based on the outcome of the equality impact assessment of the proposal to withdraw funding from the Prep Departments to see whether it will have an adverse effect on any category specified in equality legislation. The Education Committee has been informed that the Education Department will not be in a position to discuss the outcome of the EQIA until early April.

In the meantime, however, it is our understanding that the budget allocations will be made to the Education and Library Boards and the Voluntary Grammars on the 25th March 2010. We suspect that for those schools with Prep Departments their budgets will be reduced accordingly. This is something which concerns us and we will be watching closely.

As ever, my Party colleagues and I will endeavour to keep you updated with developments on this issue. You can be assured of our continued support on this issue and that we will do all we can to bring this issue to a satisfactory conclusion.

Michelle McIlveen MLA

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