Schools and Colleges (Hansard, 27 April 1995)

§ 4. Mr. Beggs
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to determine the total amount of public expenditure required at this time, to bring schools and colleges to an acceptable level of maintenance, to enable schools and colleges to comply with health and safety regulations and the demands of the national curriculum. [19610]

§ Mr. Ancram
My Department regularly reviews the capital needs of the education estate in consultation with the education and library boards, individual schools and voluntary authorities. Each year, my Department assesses the priorities within which decisions are then reached, subject to available resources.

§ Mr. Beggs
I thank the Minister for that response. Is he aware that in the North Eastern education and library board area about £30 million is urgently needed to deal effectively with the backlog of maintenance, to comply with health and safety regulations and to meet the needs of either new or refurbished facilities for science, information technology, art and design, home economics and, indeed, technology itself? Is not at least another £60 million needed for new build and major capital development? If the position is similar across the five boards in Northern Ireland, about £500 million is urgently needed.
I urge the Minister to obtain that level of funding from any peace dividend and to bring our schools and colleges up to date. Above all, we need to create employment and provide hope for those who are unemployed. We also need to revitalise our construction industry.

§ Mr. Ancram
I understand the hon. Gentleman's concern, which I share to the extent that I appreciate that there is a greater need for capital spending than there are funds available within the budget each year, for which I have to decide the spending priorities. As he knows, last year was a very hard year and decisions effectively had to be between spending on capital new starts and classroom provision. I took the view, I think rightly at that stage, that classroom provision was the priority and that it should be given the advantage over capital spending.
970 This year, partly because of money that has become available because of the changed security position in Northern Ireland, I have been able to restore a capital programme of £63 million. Inevitably, within that I have to make decisions because the need is greater than that sum. However, when the hon. Gentleman studies my announcements on capital starts, I hope that he will appreciate that not only did I devote a great deal of time to deciding the priorities but I tried, wherever possible, to visit the schools so that I was personally informed.

§ Mr. Worthington
Will the Minister confirm two points about the capital building programme? First, are there not more than 3,000 temporary classrooms in Northern Ireland which, at the present rate of replacement, it will take almost 50 years to replace? What does the hon. Gentleman mean by "temporary"?
Secondly, the Minister will be aware that the Prime Minister has said that nursery education is a priority for the Government. Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in this year's allocation of capital there appears to be no money for nursery education programmes? How can he square that with the Prime Minister's promise?

§ Mr. Ancram
I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new Front-Bench role. He and I used to cross swords in previous political incarnations. I am sure that we will now wish to work together for the good of education in Northern Ireland. I certainly welcome him to what I am sure he will find a fascinating portfolio.
The question of temporary classrooms is not unique to Northern Ireland. It is very much a matter for concern when I am trying to decide priorities in evaluating the needs of each school that applies for capital—the state of the temporary classrooms is obviously one of the factors that I take into account. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware that some temporary classrooms are in much better condition than others, which must also be taken into account.
On the hon. Gentleman's point about nursery education, he knows that the Government are considering the best way to advance the undertakings given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. We will wish to take full account of those decisions in relation to Northern Ireland in due course.