Well, that was a bit of an anti-climax.

That's all from us for today, but do join us tomorrow morning from 10:30 for Stormont Live coverage of the Health Committee.

And, as is our Thursday afternoon tradition, we'll have the Justice Committee from 14:00.

For now, though, it's goodbye from us up here on the hill!

After more than an hour-and-a-half in private session, the Public Accounts Committee decides to adjourn today's public session of the inquiry into the RHI scheme.

Committee chair Robin Swann says the decision was taken "in order for all ongoing departmental investigations to conclude".

He says the committee considers this matter to be of "most acute public interest".

"Achieving maximum transparency and accountability on this issue is paramount," he adds.

"The Public Accounts Committee will not be deflected in its determination to fully carry out its political and scrutiny responsibilities."

The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme was introduced in 2012 by the former Department of Enterprise, with the aim of increasing the uptake of renewable heat technologies.

But in July this year, the Northern Ireland Audit Office stated in a report, external that "serious systematic failings" in the scheme are likely to cost the Northern Ireland budget "hundreds of millions of pounds".

Economy Minister Simon Hamilton described the finding as "deeply shocking".

Image source, TCHARA

The Audit Office investigation was prompted when a whistleblower contacted the Northern Ireland Executive in January alleging that the scheme was being abused.

One of the claims was that a farmer was aiming to collect about £1m over 20 years from the scheme for heating an empty shed.

The whistleblower also claimed large factories that had previously not been heated were using the scheme to install boilers with the intention of running them throughout the year to collect about £1.5m over 20 years.

In the first leg of the RHI evidence session two weeks ago, a senior civil servant apologised for the department's lack of oversight in the scheme.

Dr Andrew McCormick, the permanent secretary at the Department for the Economy, said he had "no good explanation" as to why problems were missed.

He also said that by the end of the scheme it will have cost the public purse a grand total of £1.18bn.

We are still waiting on this afternoon's sitting of the Public Accounts Committee to begin - it was due to have started half-an-hour ago.

Civil servants from the Department for the Economy are due in the Senate chamber to answer questions from members as part of the committee's inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. 

The prime minister has reiterated the government's determination to avoid any return to "the borders of the past" on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

Image source, House of Commons

Theresa May was answering a question from the SDLP MP Dr Alasdair McDonnell, who suggested there was a contradiction between the government's policy of controlling migration and its commitment to keeping the border open.  

Chair Barry McElduff informs the members that next week's meeting will be at St Dominic's Grammar School in west Belfast, and he adjourns the committee.

Join us again after lunch at 14:00 for a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, in which members will be continuing their inquiry into the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.

The departmental officials who were taking part in the earlier session on the pre-school special school review return briefly to complete the MLAs' Q&A.

The members then discuss how to progress their consideration of the review.

Mr Lyttle raises the matter of a possible committee inquiry into post-primary selection, saying he has serious doubts about the viability of testing children for academic ability at ages 10 or 11.

The East Belfast MLA says an inquiry would allow members "to go into the evidence and the substance of some of those issues".

Jennifer McCann of Sinn Féin asks about "the link between deprivation and academic achievement".

She asks the minister if he is telling her it is "just" that in a primary seven class some pupils will be having special tuition for a test while others are not.

"I'm saying the system of academic selection is fairer than a pure selection by money," Mr Weir replies.

The minister is asked what the evidence base is for his guidance on transfer.

Mr Lyttle accuses him of "a failure to engage with the executive, with this assembly, or the committee", adding that was "flawed and shows contempt for the people we represent".

Mr Weir says there is "a clear desire out there" for academic selection, that exam results have "outstripped" all other parts of the UK, and the alternative divides society between those who can or cannot afford to pay for private education.

"I'm glad to see the Alliance Party has clarified its position on the abolition of grammar schools," he adds.

On academic selection, committee chair Barry McElduff asks the minister if he intends to introduce a single, regulated transfer test for primary pupils to secure admission to a selective school.

Mr Weir says that "in an ideal world" he would like to see a "single test that was agreed by government", but he acknowledges that there "won't be agreement politically over that".

The more realistic option, he says, is an agreement between the two organisations that currently set entrance exams for selective schools.

"I have enough problems in education without seeking another trench warfare on something else which there isn't going to be an automatic solution," he adds.

Mr Lyttle says: "The reality is that six schools have had their provision reduced from fill-time to part-time hours, and the review has not even properly commenced."

He wants assurance that the minister, who has been in post since May, has engaged with the EA, principals and parents.

Mr Weir says he met the chair and chief executive of the EA "relatively early" on in his tenure.

He says that an individual parent will be interested in "the impact on their child" in a particular year.

The minister says the review is seeking "a very sensible strategic position, not just a particular year".

The minister outlines the plan for the review of pre-school special school provision, aiming to come up with an implementation plan for September 2017.

He says it is important "to ensure that we are not simply repeating the mistakes of the past".

Mr McElduff says members have been "less than impressed" by the EA's management of admissions to special school pre-school provision.

He says committee members feel "some of the statements coming from the EA were misleading".

The minister says "there is a greater identification, and an earlier identification" of children with special educational needs.

He says that as of 1 September there were about 280 children who were correctly placed and "at least 50 children currently in process".

Turning to post-primary transfer, Mr Weir reaffirms the his latest guidance, which "supports the continued rights of schools to use academic selection".

He says he has asked officials to engage with the two providers of selection tests in an attempt to achieve a more suitable system.

Education Minister Peter Weir arrives for his briefings on a pre-school special school review and post-primary transfer.

The minister says the special school review has been looking at provision on "a much more organised and strategic level". 

Mr Weir refers to previous failings by the EA in the area of special schools provision.

He says it is "important that the EA is held to account".

The DUP's Carla Lockhart says she cannot explain to the officials "just how emotive this is".

She has sat with parents who are crying over the matter, and that she believes the system is failing them.

Ms Lockhart asks if the cost of training for the new framework will come out of school budgets.

Mrs Gillan says they propose to ask schools to set aside one of their development days.

Plans have been announced to allow voters in Northern Ireland to register electronically for elections.

Image source, PA

Under the proposals, online registration would be rolled out by the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland by 2019.

The length of time taken over the statementing process is a matter raised by the Alliance Party's Chris Lyttle.

He says the education minister announced he would reduce the target time from 26 weeks to 22 weeks.

Mrs Gillan says the original plan had been to reduce the time to 20 weeks, but a proposed reduction in the time taken for health assessments from six weeks to four weeks "was looking to be pretty problematic".

Ulster Unionist Sandra Overend asks about a lack of educational psychologists.

Mrs Gillan says "that's not what we have heard from the Education Authority (EA)".

Image source, Thinkstock

Mrs Overend asks Mrs Gillan whether the department would consider "making educational psychologists a privatised matter" in the interests of efficiency.

The official replies that the question is not in her remit, but adds that the EA "would certainly consider having an educational psychology service".