It's a quiet afternoon on the hill - there will not be any committee coverage after lunch.

However, do join us again tomorrow morning from 10:45, when we'll be joining the Health Committee for a ministerial briefing.

Chris Lyttle thanks the officials for their contribution.

He says the committee has invited the minister, Peter Weir, and the EA to discuss SEN matters.

The chairperson announces that the next meeting will be a joint meeting with the Economy Committee.

Justin McNulty returns to the issue of SEN statementing.

He asks Mr Irwin "what's going to be different" about how the department holds the Education Authority to account.

Image source, NI Assembly

Mr Irwin says it's important that the department is "fully sighted on everything" and while he cannot outline exactly "what that it will look like" it's important that officials know "what's happening, where it's happening and what the progress of that is".

He says: "There are clear lines of accountability and there will continue to be."

Ricky Irwin says the department has been trying to respond to complaints it has received from parents.

"It's simply not acceptable that when they get a letter it's out of date, they can't understand it, in fact even the use of letters in this day and age needs to be looked at."

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He say there should be a parent portal so they can go online and see exactly where they are in the statementing process.

The departmental official adds that he believes parents should have an assigned caseworker within the EA who they can ring.

William Humphrey of the DUP asks if the Special Educational Needs framework was "driven because the department was aware of the problems" in the EA.

Sharon Lawlor says that it not the case - and outlines the timeline which goes back to 2012.

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She says they "didn't know we were going to be left with three years to work on this, but we've used that time fruitfully".

Chris Lyttle wants to know what's being done to ensure the "exaggerated" SEN assessment waiting times don't occur again.

"A lot of this will depend on the operational improvements that the EA puts in place and the difference that they make," Mr Irwin says.

He says it's important that the department of Education should have the right information coming from the EA at the right time.

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Mr Lyttle notes that the department says it is consulting with the EA on the proposed changes.

"Who in EA is providing you with feedback on how to improve a system that they have just been found to be systemically failing to administer?" he asks.

Sharon Lawlor (above) says they sent their request to senior directors.

"To be honest with you", she says, they have only received comments from the EA on the regulations, and have yet to receive comments on the code of practice.

Committee Chair Chris Lyttle begins by asking Ricky Irwin what responsibility it takes for "systemic failing" in the special education needs statementing process.

Mr Irvine responds that there is "a huge amount of work going on with the EA in terms of trying to address some of the issues that have emerged".

He says he has only been in post for a short time but he has spoken to a "number of schools principals, teachers and leaders and some of what I have heard is completely unacceptable, and in fact disturbing at times, and upsetting".

Image source, NI Assembly

Mr Irvine adds that it is the department's duty "and responsibility to get this right".

"Some of the matters are very, very complex and cannot be solved just in my area," he says, emphasising there's a need to work with others such as infrastructure, planning, the EA and school leaders.

The special school briefing completed, two Department of Education officials, Ricky Irwin and Sharon Lawlor, are now briefing the members on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Framework.

Mr Irwin says the focus of the new network "is on inclusion, early intervention and assessment leading to interventions designed to ensure that children and young people with SEN have access to the special education provision they need".

Image source, NI Assembly

He says that each school will be required to have a learning support co-ordinator and the current SEN regulations will be replaced.

Mr Irwin says the department has taken the opportunity to concentrate on how to change the regulations for the better.

He says that the change to the statementing process "represents a sea change improvement and will bring to an end statutory assessments taking months or in some cases years longer than they should".

The DUP’s Wiliam Humphrey asks what's being done by the EA to address delays in statutory assessment and statementing process.

Last week, the EA’s chief executive attended the committee and discussed an internal audit which found the delays were "unnecessary and undue” and also raised concerns about the security of confidential information about children kept by the EA.

Image source, NI Assembly

Kim Scott tells the committee that the EA has an “improvement plan to look at a range of issues around the statementing process, not jut at timing, but looking at ensuring consistency across offices”.

The UUP's Robbie Butler (below) says he has an interest as his daughter is a student studying learning disability nursing.

He asks about a ministerial review of special schools in 2015, and Kim Spence outlines some of the EA's resulting proposals on area planning.

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She agrees with Chris Lyttle that there was some resistance to proposed changes regarding pupils attending their closest school.

"An individual parent may look at that and say, 'that's actually going to perhaps threaten the place that my child is in right now, I'm not sure that I can agree with that'," she explains.

In response to a question about the school enhancement programme (SEP) from Robin Newton, Paula Jordan says that it is beneficial but that "our schools can become too big".

She says principals "don't want huge schools, we prefer schools to stay smaller," but adds that there is a need for more schools because of the increasing numbers.

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She adds that due to the change in pupil profile, special schools "need classes to be smaller".

"Schools don't have the same capacity as they previously did - we can't have those classes with larger numbers in them anymore as the needs of the children can't be met in those classes so capacity of the school reduces," says Ms Jordan.

Paula Jordan says principals are "extremely worried" about the ongoing coronavirus situation.

She recalls a recent situation at a school, not her own, where a staff member was made aware they had been in contact with someone who had contracted COVID-19, called the PHA helpline and was told it was alright for them to go into the school.

The teacher then spoke to the school principal, who also called the PHA for further advice, and was told that the decision was their's to make about whether or not the staff member should go to work.

Image source, NI Assembly

"It should not be a principal's call," says Paula Jordan, "this is a medical issue".

All of the principals on the panel agree that they are "very worried" about the situation.

"We need really clear guidance of what to do," says Sharon Tennant.

Ms Jordan adds, " but we feel that needs to come from health".

The SDLP's Justin McNulty asks whether the EA has received any advice from the health minister in relation to coronavirus, and if it has issued any advice to schools.

Kim Scott says coronavirus issues have been changing daily and they have been "in close contact with the department and the PHA (Public Health Agency) over the last few weeks".

Image source, Getty Images

She says the department has issued a letter to all schools outlining how to access the PHA website "and what to do if they have any issues and questions to ask".

Ms Scott says they are "working through" the many queries they have had on individual matters, including school trips.

The EA representative says they had a meeting with the PHA yesterday and "we are going to put another guidance letter out to schools and staff".

Sinn Féin's Catherine Kelly what safeguards the EA has in place to ensure pupils needs can be fully met when they are enrolled at a special school.

Kim Scott from the EA says each child is assessed and if they reach stage 5 they will receive a statement outlining the "individual needs for the individual child".

Image source, NI Assembly

She adds, it's "not a case of saying this school has some capacity here, this school doesn't - so we'll put this child here, instead of there".

The SDLP's Daniel McCrossan says what he has heard "in recent weeks is absolutely shocking" and asks about the timescale and funding allocations available to "resolving accommodation issues" in special schools.

Kim Scott responds that a number of schools that have obtained school enhancement programme funding have seen work completed.

She adds that there is also minor capital work ongoing around "re-configuring space".

Image source, NI Assembly

She adds that while principals are saying they are having to use spaces such as "potting sheds," that such spaces have "been reconfigured through minor capital works into classroom space".

Sinn Féin's Karen Mullan says "there needs to be a serious step change in relation to the Education Authority and how we listen and value our school leaders and special schools".

She highlights a lack of staff in-service training and asks for confirmation that only temporary contracts are being advertised.

Image source, NI Assembly

Barbara Spence of Brookfield Special School (above) says that four to five years ago it was difficult to get a permanent post and there are still a lot of temporary posts.

"We're hopefully in the way to getting permanency because we can actually start to build a team and provide training because the training obviously comes from ourselves, sadly there is no effective training from the Education Authority for special (schools)" Ms Spence.

Chris Lyttle asks Ms Scott to give an update about the status of the Belfast special school planning process.

The EA representative says the department held a review of special school provision, which made six recommendations.

These were rolled forward to the strategic area plan, including plans for Belfast.

Image source, NI Assembly

Ms Scott says it then "became apparent" that there was some disagreement coming back from stakeholders, so the EA has worked to engage with those stakeholders, to find the best way forward,

She says there are plans to carry out a consultation, which she hopes will take place at the end of this academic year.

Chris Lyttle refers to an Education Training Inspectorate (ETI) report from 2016-18 that described accommodation in most special schools as "insufficient".

He asks Kim Scott how it has come to pass "that accommodation so clearly fails to meet the needs of pupils".

"Right across our schools estate, across our 1,100 schools we have severe accommodation issues," she replies.

Image source, Getty Images

She says the EA is working with the Department of Education to try to address accommodation issues.

"We are doing everything we can with the budget envelope we have," Ms Scott says.

Paula Jordan echoes the sentiments of her colleague Sharon Tennant around classroom space issues.

She says in her 23 years at Sperrinview special school the number of pupils has increased by "more than three times".

Ms Jordan says Sperrinview is "part of the set programme" but that "the site we are sitting on is saturated - there is nowhere else to build".

But she adds that the EA is looking at the possibility of purchasing land nearby.

Image source, NI Assembly

"At the moment we have a class in our PE hall, so we can't provide statutory PE at this time of year - we can in the good weather when we are able to get outside," says Ms Jordan.

"We have a class in our staff room, which means staff are now having their tea in a corridor, outside a toilet."

She adds that potential builds have to go "through proper procedures" but "the children are coming through now".

Sharon Tennant of Sandleford Special Scool outlines some of her accommodation problems.

She says they are using physiotherapy rooms and stores as classrooms.

Image source, NI Assembly

"We need to have breakout rooms, we need to have chill rooms, we need to have sensory spaces," the principal says.

She says they have "worked with the north-eastern board to change some of our toilet accommodation into hygiene rooms".