Sinn Féin lose seat on Education Authority board following election

The Education Authority was established in April 2015

Sinn Féin have lost a seat to the DUP on the Education Authority (EA) board following the assembly elections.

Twenty members sit on the authority's board and eight are nominated by political parties according to the D'Hondt mechanism.

After the EA was established in April 2015, both Sinn Féin and the DUP had three members, while the SDLP and UUP had one each.

Following the election, the DUP are now entitled to nominate a fourth member.

Sinn Féin, who dropped one seat to 28 MLAs, can now only nominate two members.

The SDLP and UUP retain one member each.

Scrutinise

The EA is responsible for education administration such as transport, teacher support, building and catering.

The other members of the 20-strong board represent a range of interests, including integrated, Irish medium and grammar schools.

There are also representatives from the main Protestant churches and trustees of Catholic maintained schools.

The board's role is to scrutinise the authority's actions and policies and ensure it is run effectively and efficiently.

The nomination of political members to the board, however, is not linked to any process to fill ministerial posts in the executive.