I thank Rev Dr William McCrea for bringing this very important subject to the Floor of the House. When I say "very important" I mean very important, because I am speaking as a parent of a daughter with severe learning difficulties, who has gone through exactly what we are talking about today. My family and I know only too well the stresses and strains involved. As we go through life, we must ensure that every effort is made to get the best educational and health provision for people such as my daughter. I must tell the Assembly of my sincere gratitude to all the service providers who up until now - over the past 30 years - have been with Joanne and my gratitude for the enormous educational and health provision that she has received. I hope that that can continue.

Joanne attended Clifton Special Care School in Bangor, and when she reached the age of 19, I recall that our family was really concerned about her leaving that school. We wondered where she was going to go. That was the real concern, and that issue is what we are talking about today. We were almost at our wits' end, because at that time there was very little available. I am thankful that both Departments came together to find a place in the local adult training centre. Joanne attends there five days a week, and she gets enormous satisfaction from being there. For families and parents, the provision is essential. No stone must be left unturned to ensure that the provision is available to every person in Northern Ireland who needs it.

Other Members have spoken of the need for the Department of Education and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to come together to ensure that the provision is open to everyone. Every establishment in Northern Ireland is under extreme pressure, but, if sufficient funding is not available, the Assembly will have failed. I am sure that Members will agree that that is not an option.

I thank Rev William McCrea for tabling the motion, and I thank the Members who have spoken. I just wanted to relay my experience of this very important subject as a parent. It is unbelievable not to know where one's young son or daughter is to go at the age of 19. The Assembly must ensure that the provision is made. I support the motion.

I too support the motion, and I thank Rev William McCrea for bringing it to the House. The care of special school leavers is a frequently overlooked topic that is not given the attention it deserves. Disability is often the poor relation of the Health Service, and responsibility for the care of those with learning disabilities is often left to families or carers. That causes hardship for the carers, who could be perceived as the forgotten people. They work long hours, often under severe financial pressure and with little recognition for their valuable contribution to society and to the quality of life of the person with the learning disability.

A wide range of needs is currently not being met, and the situation will continue to deteriorate if something is not done immediately. The main reason for this is inadequate funding. Most trusts are severely underfunded; as a result, they are unable to provide adequate facilities and services that reflect the needs of people with learning difficulties. When I talk about services, I am referring to the whole range of services, including care workers, therapists and all other healthcare professionals working in the field. I have had reports of centres that have the facilities, but no resources for therapists to provide a service to their clients. Money that should be going to disability services has, all too often, been diverted to acute services, with the result that there has been a continual decline in facilities for the disabled.

Many with learning disabilities depend on the services offered by day centres. It is often the only opportunity that they have for therapy, social contact and the security of a structured environment, which they need to promote proper development of their capabilities. Current provision is not sufficient to deal with demand, and that does not bode well for the future as more clients make the transition from the education system to adult support services. As many Members have said, we have seen in the past how many young people stay in the education system until the age of 19 and then move to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.

Over the years, young people with learning difficulties have proved what they are capable of, and many have now been given the opportunity to move into employment, learning and training. Their needs have changed. Many Members, including Rev William McCrea, have mentioned the lack of facilities in their constituencies. Two weeks ago I raised the issue of the adult resource centre formerly known as the Wallace day centre. Members' contributions today only prove the need for a focused strategy on the services and facilities that should be offered to young people with learning difficulties across Northern Ireland.

Despite the commitment of their excellent staff, many of these centres are not of an acceptable standard to cater for their clients' needs. Many are overcrowded and, in some cases, because of the demand for services, can be offered only on a part-time basis for a few hours each day or even for just two to three days a week.

Some older adults in my own day centre have been intimidated and told that as they have been there for 10 years, they must now move over and take part-time places to allow new people to join. That puts further pressure on families and carers, many of whom are getting older and finding it difficult to cope. That has a serious effect on the morale of clients and their families, carers and staff.

People with learning difficulties already suffer considerable social disadvantage and, because of their inability to speak out for themselves, they rely on others to speak for them. They deserve a service tailored to their needs, and they should be secure in the knowledge that the service will continue if that is their choice.

The facilities and services must be flexible enough to deal with people of different abilities. The staff who work in those centres must be given adequate resources and support to deliver those services. The right to choose is vital, and there should be choices available, both for those with learning disabilities and for their carers. It is important that there be facilitation to enable them to take control of their lives and to achieve a level of independence commensurate with their conditions.

There is also the social aspect. Every individual is a part of our community and, as such, has the right to the opportunity to develop a social network within that community.

Accommodation in many day centres is under severe pressure, and we are heading towards a crisis situation. More young adults are leaving special schools and need the services of a day centre, and older clients are being moved out to make room for them. What is happening to the older clients, and where is their equality of treatment? Are their needs not just as important? The only solution is to ensure that adequate funding is ring-fenced for learning disability services, and facilities should be brought up to date to reflect the needs of the twenty-first century.

I call on the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to bring together a working group with the Department of Education and the Department for Employment and Learning to create a strategy for people with learning difficulties, so that there is a clear and simple transition process for many of those young people and their families, carers and staff to give them the quality of life which is a basic human right.

I commend Dr McCrea for tabling the motion. We are talking about the less well off in so far as social and vocational interests are concerned.

The debate has been well rehearsed, and I commend Members for taking part. As a former social worker, I am aware of the great difficulty that arises when the learning disabled reach the age of 19. After that age, there is no place to go. That is sad for the individual and difficult for the carer. Respite is no longer available; stress occurs; the burden of care is further increased; and crisis projects itself tremendously.

However, help may be available. Through some lobbying that I took part in, the Sperrin Lakeland Trust in Enniskillen has provided a new resource at Lackaboy, about a mile outside the town. It has proved very useful, and lots of people have taken advantage of it. Fermanagh College, in conjunction with the trust, has initiated a course of instruction on a two-day-a-week basis, mainly for the younger learning disabled. There is also a scheme initiated by a residential home in the area, known as the Strule/Erne project, based on day-care provision in Enniskillen. Other people can take advantage of such schemes.

Day-care provision is essential to provide self-esteem and to make the learning disabled feel part of life in general. They are enthused by their work, and it is sad that it should be taken away from them at 19 years of age. I found from my experience in social work that carers needs a great deal of respite, and it is unfair to add to their burden.

I support the motion and pay tribute to the carers, tutors, social work staff and all those involved in the tremendous work that they do.

In conclusion, I commend Mr Jim Wilson's invitation to the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety to pay a visit to his constituency. The experience will be enlightening. I support the motion.

I thank Rev Dr William McCrea for tabling the motion. The issue is timely and must be discussed. There is little point in the House talking about existing problems unless action is taken to resolve them and to avert further hardship for the learning disabled.

Several Members have said that they have close family members with learning disabilities. My eldest brother has had severe difficulties since shortly after birth. I mention that because it shows that learning disabilities transcend all sections of our society, whether one is Protestant or Catholic, Unionist or Nationalist, rich or poor. No one is omitted. Learning disability can touch any section of our society. In a recent Adjournment debate on people with learning disabilities, which was initiated by Ms Lewsley, I said that we could judge a society on how well it treats its most vulnerable people. What judgement will be cast on our society on how it treats its most vulnerable, in the form of the learning disabled?

In my constituency, there is the Lisburn adult resource centre, Seymour Hill horticultural centre, the Beeches vocational training unit, the Stepping Stones outreach facility and Lisburn YMCA. Outside my constituency, but in the Lisburn Borough Council area, there is a unit at the Dairy Farm centre at Poleglass. Those centres provide for the area's learning disabled.

Those who work with the learning disabled do their level best to provide a good facility. Unfortunately, it falls short of the real needs of the learning disabled in the area. Lisburn adult resource centre was built for 80 people, but it is being used by 101 people. The centre is not suitable. It has no automatic doors at its entrance for wheelchair users and has no covered area for young people alighting from buses. The site is not integrated, meaning that users of the centre have to go outside to reach another part of the building in all weather conditions, which is totally unsuitable. Too many people with varied behavioural abilities have to use the same room and receive the same service at the same time.

Another problem that must be addressed specifically is that Down Lisburn Trust has adopted a policy of putting the over-45s out of the resource centre to make way for the younger learning disabled. That is totally unfair. There are people in their early 40s who know that pressure will be put on them to leave the centre. Two groups of people will be traumatised. The first group are those who are leaving school to make their way to the centre or to one of the other resources in the area. They will wonder whether a place will be available for them. Their families will want to know what they will do when their children leave school. The second group are those in their early 40s who are worried that they will be put out of the centre to make way for the younger people. Society will not judge that as a good way to treat its most vulnerable people.

There are other opportunities. I know that some people have adopted the Canadian approach of developing a support network of carers and befrienders for the learning disabled who wish to stay at home with their families. I support the people who wish to do that. However, the majority of people do not wish to do that; they want their children to be able to attend the resource centre or another facility where they can mix with other people and have the opportunity to make friends. Those people should be facilitated.

The Department for Employment and Learning must confront its responsibilities. In the past, European funding was reduced, and the Beeches lost the funding that previously was administered to it through that Department. Fortunately, the Down Lisburn Trust was able to take up the slack for this year and ensure that the Beeches stayed open. However, a significant learning and employment element is involved because many of the young people enter employment after they leave the Beeches. I do not accept that the Department for Employment and Learning does not have any responsibility to bear. Why should the learning disabled be treated any differently from anybody else if the work that they do at a centre will generate the opportunity for them to take up employment later on?

The Department for Employment and Learning has a responsibility from which it must not walk away. I trust that the departmental officials will read this debate, take on board what I have said and take responsibility for providing funding for the Beeches and other places that provide training for the learning disabled.

I pay special regard to the Stepping Stones outreach facility. It is a wonderful facility that gets young people involved in working in the community. That is a tremendous asset to the young people and to the businesses that employ them. It gives the young people an opportunity to work in the community and show what they can do.

The agenda for the learning disabled must be driven forward, and Members must address the issues that are being brought before the House. All the Ministers involved must take their roles seriously. They must properly and adequately address the problems in those areas.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I congratulate Dr McCrea for tabling what is an important motion. Those Members who have met the parents of children in this invidious position know their pain and hurt, which are due to the lack of understanding from the statutory authorities. Anything that the Assembly can do to further projects that promote integration and social inclusion and redress the age-old prejudice and ignorance about learning disability will be welcomed. Anything that the Assembly can do to highlight the difficulties faced by those young people is welcomed.

I agree with and support the idea of a cohesive, collaborative approach between the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and the Department for Employment and Learning. The care of special school leavers is both a health and an education issue. Primary, secondary and third-level education should be involved in attempting to work out support employment programmes that bridge the serious gap in society that fails to take account of the needs of the people that the motion addresses.

I have a grandnephew who is wheelchair-bound, and I know something about the difficulties that those young people face. They are intelligent young people who are aware of what is going on around them, yet they are dumped on the scrap heap, or sent to institutions or day-care centres to which they are not suited and where they get in the way. Members could sponsor a disabled person from their constituency and bring him to Parliament Buildings for one day a week for as long as they can. Members can take the lead and begin to integrate disabled people into this part of society and give them an opportunity to sit in our offices to see what Members do or to measure what is going on around them. That is something positive that Members could do as an indication of their concern for these young people.

I congratulate William McCrea for tabling this important motion. We have listened to the other Members who have spoken, and I will not reiterate needlessly what they have said. I support the motion.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Tá mé an-bhuíoch den Oirmhinneach Liam Mac Craith as deis a thabhairt domh soláthar chúram lae do dhaoine óga atá ag fágáil scoileanna speisialta a phlé. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an-suim ag mórán Comhaltaí san ábhar seo.

I thank William McCrea for giving us the opportunity to discuss this important issue. I regret that I was unable to be present for the start of the debate, but I was hosting a four-Ministers meeting here this morning with Alan Milburn, Malcolm Chisholm and Jane Hutt. However, officials monitored the details of the debate until my arrival, and I have learned a great deal from that and from what I have heard from Members today.

The transition arrangements for young people leaving special schools are set out in section 5 of the Disabled Persons (Northern Ireland) Act 1989, which requires an education and library board to notify the responsible health and social services trust of the date on which full-time education will cease. The trust is then responsible for arranging an assessment of the young person's needs and the provision of appropriate services. The code of practice for the identification and assessment of special educational needs published by the Department of Education in 1998 provides guidance on how the transitional planning should be arranged.

In the past 12 months, day-care places have been provided for 70 young people who have left special schools, but eight special school leavers have not had their day care needs met. Pressure on day care places is increasing, and waiting lists are beginning to emerge. The four health and social services boards have taken steps to address the pressures on local day care services and they plan to meet anticipated future need.

Young people with learning disabilities have a diverse range of abilities and disabilities that require tailored day-care placement. For those whose level of disability permits, the aim is to provide placements that develop skills and abilities that prepare young people for the working environment and support them in such environments. For those who are unable to access further education, vocational training schemes or supported employment scheme placements are offered in adult training centres or voluntary sector schemes that provide highly supported places.

Some examples of innovative day care projects have been mentioned during the debate. The Bridge Association in Antrim runs a commercial garden centre that employs young people with learning disabilities. In Coleraine, young people with learning disabilities have the contract for the grounds maintenance at Coleraine Hospital and the Robinson Memorial Hospital. Others are involved in a recycling project.

Mr Poots mentioned Stepping Stones, which is a Lisburn-based project that offers employment for young people in a commercial coffee shop. There is also a commercial baking and retail project called the Cookie Company. In Derry, the Lilliput Theatre Company is the only local theatre company that is made up of people with learning disabilities.

Day care is provided for almost half of the 8,500 people with learning disabilities who are in contact with the health and social services trusts. Day care is not provided on the basis of age but on the basis of need. Young people have access to adult training centre places, horticultural training schemes, voluntary sector projects offering arts and crafts training, further education courses and supported employment.

Regionally, there are 3,820 places providing day care for 4,120 people. Thirty people are not receiving any day care and are waiting for a place.

I will outline the action being taken by individual boards to identify special school leavers in the coming years and to develop day-care services. In the Eastern Board an average of 50 young people a year will leave special schools in each of the next four to five years and will require some form of day support, although not necessarily a place in a statutory facility. Trusts adopt the person-centred approach, which has been mentioned, when discussing options with service users and their carers. Trusts co-operate with other statutory bodies in education, training and employment to develop a range of opportunities for those who can access them. They work with voluntary sector care providers to develop some of the locally based schemes that we have discussed.

In the Northern Board area 154 young people will leave special schools in June 2002. The future planning for young people leaving schools there is also a shared responsibility of health and social services, education and training agencies. This year the board will make additional funding available to stimulate additional day-care capacity, which will include the development of small local schemes run by voluntary sector organisations. The board does not believe that there is a need for additional day-care facilities for children who have left school, as has been suggested. Facility-based day care is not necessarily considered appropriate for the needs of young people.

The Southern Board has recognised a need for a more diverse range of day opportunities based on a multi-agency approach. In that regard, it identified a need for day-care provision for an additional 20 people a year over the next five years, which includes six to seven young adults leaving special schools each year in each trust area. Several of them will have complex needs that will require day care five days a week. It is recognised that day care, providing activity and skills training, is vital to support people in the community. The board has identified enhanced day care as an area for development against any additional funding available this year. In the longer term, the emphasis on day-care provision will be to procure a diverse range of tailored schemes with several providers to meet the identified local need. Some of that work fits in with some of the points raised by Members.

Expenditure on learning disability services has increased from just under £89 million in 1998-99 to just over £100 million in 2000-01. An additional £191 million has been allocated to the four health and social services boards to develop community services, including those for people with a learning disability, so some of the money that has been allocated to develop community services in general will be available for the development of learning disability day-care services. Members have drawn attention to, and my Department is aware of, the growing demand for statutory day-care places as the number of more dependent young people who cannot access other day activities such as education, training or supported employment increases.

I will set out my priorities for action for 2002-03. Boards and trusts should continue to expand the provision of day care and respite places for people with a learning disability. The question of carers was mentioned in that regard, and my priorities for action in 2002-03 include provision of extra respite care places. Some of the additional funding, which I have allocated to the four health and social services boards to develop community services in 2002-03, will be available for the purpose of expanding the provision of day-care and respite places for people with a learning disability.

I recently launched the report 'A Fair Chance', which records the views expressed by people with learning disabilities about the services they use and how they might better address the equality of opportunity issues that they face. The report has been widely distributed to health and social services and other Departments and their agencies. That will help to inform future service development.

Day care is an essential element in the overall provision of care and support for young people with learning disabilities. However, as has been said today, it must be appropriate to the needs of the individual. In that regard, provision of appropriate day-care activities is a shared responsibility between several Departments and their agencies. That approach will enable those Departments to offer a choice of day-care activities that develop abilities and skills and meet personal aspirations.

Members will welcome the fact that I am meeting Martin McGuinness and Carmel Hanna next month to discuss how our Departments and their agencies can use their expertise collectively to ensure that young people with learning disabilities have the same life opportunities as other young people. Young people with disabilities want to be able to do the same things that non-disabled young people enjoy. That is what social inclusion means. Our responsibility is to ensure that the services we provide help them to achieve that goal. I will work with my Executive Colleagues, the voluntary sector and the rest of the statutory sector to ensure that we remove the barriers to social inclusion and provide the best possible opportunities for people throughout the age range so that people with disabilities and those without disabilities can enjoy and engage in the same range of activities and meet their aspirations in the best way possible.

I thank the Members who have participated in the debate for their input and valued support. Comments made in the Chamber today will comfort families who felt that they had exhausted all hope and who are appealing to the Assembly to do something to help them.

I ask Members to consider the motto of Roddensvale Special School in Larne, which concentrates on the three Ps - prepare, praise and progress. The debate has recognised the sterling work of special needs schools in preparing children who have learning disabilities to best meet the challenges that life will undoubtedly throw at them. The debate has also recognised the praise that is readily and freely given to those children not only by their parents and families but also by their teachers and professional staff in the Health Service. That leaves the third element, progress, which is a matter for the Assembly. That is why we are debating how best to make such progress.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Chairperson of the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety who said that there was an equality aspect of the right to education. The Minister said that she agreed with social inclusion and that each child, irrespective of whether he is disabled or able-bodied, should be able to engage in a range of activities and have the opportunity to meet his aspirations. Those are fine and laudable words, but it is important that the Executive help to ensure that money is provided to this most vulnerable group.

Jim Wilson mentioned Riverside Special School. He also spoke about the effects that disability and lack of provision have on every member of a household. I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiment that options are available to young people with learning disabilities, but that they are limited. He referred to oversubscription of adult day care centres in Antrim, and he also mentioned the need for variety and stimulation. All those points are invaluable in meeting the needs of these children. The garden centre run by the Bridge Association in Antrim is a novel and beneficial project. I am sure that Mr Wilson will join me in commending the association on its excellent work.

Mr Wilson said that this issue affects every Member of the House. That is true. One mother from Magherafelt who mentioned the situation to me is a single parent. If her son does not find a placement, she will have to leave her work, which is necessary to enable her to give the best to her child. She wants and needs to work to give her child every possible help while he is in her care, but she is unfortunately being forced into a situation in which she will have to leave work.

If I could put into words the pain and anxiety that was on that mother's face and on the faces of other parents who have joined me in delegations and deputations to board officers, trust officers and the Minister for Employment and Learning, Members would know that those parents want to give their children the very best. However, they believe that they will not get the best, that they will be discriminated against, because, when the school year finishes at the end of this month, they will sit at home. That is not in the interests of the children.

All the development and effort that has been put in over years in the special schools, which is excellent, A1 provision, will be wasted because many of those children have to take life one day at a time and, therefore, look forward to what is currently provided.

Barry McElduff mentioned a school in his area. A mother's tears and a mother's worry over her child are the same in West Tyrone as they are in Mid Ulster. A mother's care, in Carrickmore, Magherafelt, Larne or Ballymena, transcends all sections of society, as my hon Friend, Mr Poots, said. It is imperative that we give children with special needs the help that is necessary.

Kieran McCarthy highlighted his personal experience. I thank him for sharing with the House the situation that he and his family face with Joanne. I also thank Mr Poots for his personal contribution. No one can really understand except parents who have been there and carried that burden in their hearts. I thank Members for sharing their personal situations. It takes courage. I am sure that many times, like the parents that I am speaking of, they too were at their wits' end, not knowing exactly what the next step would mean.

Did the Member hear anything in the Minister's response that gives any hope at all to the parents who have approached him and me, in Antrim and elsewhere, about the future for their children?

I tried to take in some of the figures that the Minister mentioned. The Minister was recently given a 37% rise in financial allocations, 13% of which was for learning disabilities. That does not augur well, because it is inappropriate and unequal.

This issue transcends everyone and all sections of the community. I am endeavouring to ensure that, at the end of this debate, action can be taken that will ensure that anyone with learning disabilities who is not allocated a place will be assured of and given a place. People have a right to demand that. Parents have a right to demand that their children be treated equally with all other children who have learning disabilities.

The very heart of our motion, and our reason for tabling it, is that this is not happening. I do not care how heaven and earth might be moved to provide places, but it is imperative that funding be allocated to ensure them. A meeting with officers of the Northern Health and Social Services Board has ensured that an additional £140,000 has been allocated specifically for investment in day care. I shall watch with interest how that money is used in that board's area. Parents are crying out for places for their children, and that money could provide them.

Mr McCarthy said that Joanne is provided for, and we rejoice in that. However, the burden of the debate is that not everyone with equal need is accommodated. Patricia Lewsley said that responsibility is left to families, and on many occasions that is correct. Those parents have been told that when their child reaches the age of 19 it is over to them - there is no provision. Even the special provision during the summer has been taken from them. The door is closed, and parents are left with their children at home.

It is essential that there is provision for everyone and that families are not left to meet their own needs. There is a problem of resources, but the Assembly must provide those and ring-fence them. A clear, concise strategy must be created which makes definite provision for those children. Mr Poots said that society is judged by how the most vulnerable are treated. How will we be judged? After the debate, we will be judged on how we provide for those people. There are so many things to consider. We tell many of these children that their education is finished at the age of seven or nine. Is any other child told that? Many 19-year-olds have the mental capacity of a seven- or nine-year-old, and sometimes in saying that I am pushing it. People see the body of an adult, but they do not see the child. When all the speeches are made and the verbiage is over, we tell those children that their right to education ceases at the age of seven or nine. We hand them over to their parents and provide nothing for them.

A strategy for proper provision between the ages of 19 and 35 is necessary. Those children have a right to achieve their ultimate potential. However, the parents who asked me to propose the motion do not even reach for that. They want their children to have the right to care in an adult centre. It is not the ultimate in provision, but they have a right to it. I agree wholeheartedly.

I need add no more. We will be judged, as Jim Wilson said, on what we do after the final word has been spoken. I trust that the Assembly will support the motion.

Private Notice Question:
Attacks on Schools

TOP

Ms McWilliams

asked the Minister of Education whether he will agree to provide resources for extra security for the schools that have been attacked in the recent spate of sectarian violence; and to make a statement.

The Minister of Education (Mr M McGuinness): I deplore and condemn the recent spate of attacks on schools and ask those responsible to stop immediately. The attacks serve no purpose and mean that scarce financial resources in the education sector must be diverted from the classroom to meet the cost of repairs.

I have received reports on each of the schools that was attacked, and I pay tribute to the efforts of all those who have worked to ensure that, in so far as possible, the pupils in their care have not suffered and that disruption to the schools' work has been kept to a minimum. I highlight the work of teaching and non-teaching staff, parents, education and library board staff and officers from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) especially for the way in which they have managed to get the schools functioning again as quickly as possible.

In the past five years, the Department has made an additional £5 million available, specifically to address basic security measures in schools. A further £1 million has been made available this year, and Members will be aware of the additional funding package that was made available earlier this year to deal with the problems in north Belfast. However, the Department's resources are limited, and it has no additional resources for further security measures at the schools that were attacked recently.

The cost of repairs associated with vandalism is usually met from the budget delegated to each school. However, education and library boards have arrangements to consider what assistance, if any, can be given from available resources to controlled and maintained schools in cases in which the costs of vandalism are excessive. Similar arrangements apply between the Department and the voluntary grammar and grant-maintained integrated schools.

I acknowledge the steps that the education and library boards and schools have taken to reduce levels of vandalism, but we must accept that there are limits to what can be done. We cannot completely secure all school premises without their becoming fortresses. I call on all public representatives and members of the community who are in positions of authority to make it clear that attacks on schools are unacceptable and must stop.

I am absolutely astounded that no financial resources are available for those schools. I remind the Minister that the schools were the victims of arson attacks, not vandalism. If the Minister does not provide principals with extra funding for the private security firms that they have employed to cover the July period, they will have to pay out a considerable amount of money from their school budgets. Given that the Minister's plans may provide only a short-term solution, what does he intend to do in the longer term? Will he consider employing detached youth workers and more community workers to build better community relations, especially in south Belfast?

A working group of officials, staff from the education and library boards and the CCMS compiled guidance on school security in 1997 and issued a booklet entitled 'Security and Personal Safety in Schools' to all schools. The Department is making substantial bids for additional resources under both the Executive's reinvestment and reform initiative and the 2002 spending review to meet various pressures across the education service. They include a bid for additional capital funds to enable the Department and the boards to respond to requests from schools for increased security measures.

Members know, and Ms McWilliams is correct to say it, that we have, in the course of the past few years, seen a situation develop in which people in our society think that it is sensible to burn schools and attack chapels, churches and Orange halls. All those attacks are inexcusable and unacceptable, and it is the responsibility of elected representatives and community leaders to be at the forefront of making it clear how unacceptable such attacks are. I hope that people will recognise that the Department's resources are limited.

The Department always intends to put as much money as possible into classrooms and schools to benefit children. We all know that unless that behaviour is ended as a matter of urgency, those bills will mount and will put intolerable pressure not only on the Department of Education but, indeed, on the entire Executive.

I speak on behalf of the Committee for Education and Ulster Unionist Party members to condemn unreservedly all sectarian attacks on schools, pupils, parents, property, teachers, principals and staff. There is no place in any decent society for people who carry out such attacks.

The Minister will be aware that attacks have taken place on various schools, not only in Belfast but across Northern Ireland. I draw his attention to the sectarian attacks on Strabane Grammar School, in which the school transport was attacked.

I am concerned that the Minister has hinted that his Department will not make available any additional resources to counter those attacks. On behalf of the Committee - [Interruption].

Will the Member ask his question, please?

Will the Minister raise the matter with the Executive to ensure an early release of funds to assist schools that, through no fault of their own, are at the sharp end of the sectarian conflict?

I agree with Mr Kennedy. He specifically mentioned the situation at Strabane Grammar School. I found that attack deplorable, and I have no hesitation in saying that everyone must do everything in his power to convince those people that it is not sensible to attack schoolchildren, school property or transport, no matter from where the children come. The people responsible need to catch themselves on and recognise that their behaviour is unacceptable.

I replied to Ms McWilliams that, to meet various pressures, my Department is making substantial bids for additional resources under the Executive's reinvestment and reform initiative and the 2002 spending review. That will include a bid for additional capital funds to enable the Department and boards to respond to schools' requests for additional security measures.

Ultimately, we all know that such initiatives could become a bottomless pit. We must address the reason for the attacks, which is why political and community leaders have a responsibility to lead by example. We must show compassion for one another, and we must recognise that we are on the one road together to a new future and that part of that new future is a society in which all children, no matter where they come from, can be educated in peace and with some hope of permanent employment and real prosperity in life.

The House will resume with questions to the Minister of Education at 2.30 pm.

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