EA welcomes report from Comptroller and Auditor General
The Education Authority (EA) has welcomed the publication of the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) for Northern Ireland on the 2016/17 EA Annual Report and Accounts.
EA Chief Executive, Gavin Boyd said;
“The education sector has been facing growing financial pressures since 2010/11. These had a major impact in 2016/17 as budgets have continued to reduce and more schools are going into deficit.
EA has been working hard to reduce costs whilst maintaining the delivery of important services to children and young people. Despite increased demand for services such as support for children with special educational needs, EA spent around £19m less in 2016/17 than in the previous year.
Around 99% of EA’s budget is spent directly on schools or on services directly supporting children and young people. This leaves very little room for reducing spending without seriously impacting the educational experiences of our children and young people.
Whilst we continue to make the case for more money for education, we have also been meeting regularly with school principals and other education partners to promote the need for transformation. We must ensure that our education system delivers what we need for our young people and is based on a model that is financially sustainable in the longer term.
EA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2016/17 highlight the significant work as we continue to establish EA as a regional organisation whilst maintaining delivery of essential services with significantly fewer staff and less money.
We recognise the significance of the £19m overspend in 2016/17 highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) and we welcome his recognition of the challenges we face as an organisation. The C&AG Report highlights that the main causes of the overspend are higher than budgeted expenditure by schools as well as increased spending on support for children with special educational needs and on school maintenance.
There are very real challenges facing schools and the wider education sector. We will continue to make the case for additional funding. However, EA also believes that transformation of our education system is required to ensure that we maximise the use of limited resources for the benefit of our children and young people. This will take time and requires political and financial support.”