To ask the Minister of Education for an update on placements for children with a statement of Special Educational Needs for September 2025.

Ensuring that all children with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) have a school placement that is appropriate to meet their needs, is and will continue to be, a primary focus for my department and the Education Authority (EA).

Since 2021, 595 specialist provision classes in 229 schools have been established but the system has still struggled to keep pace with the rising demand.

In January the EA advised that its early planning assumptions for September 2025 showed a need for approximately 1300 additional places, with similar increased geographical pressure areas as last year. Prior to Easter, Senior EA officials took forward an intensive round of engagements with those schools in areas with the greatest demand for capacity in September 2025.

The EA has worked hard to increase capacity across the school estate, and as of 16 June 2025, it advises that there is an assumed pressure of around 237 places remaining for September 2025. On 10 June last year, I reported that the number of places required for children in either a Special School or Specialist Provision was 470 for September 2024.

In order to address these challenges, in April 2024, I announced the establishment of a SEN Capital Programme, which marked a significant step change in the approach to SEN capital investment and ensured that the system would be put on a stronger strategic footing across future years.

Further I wrote to a number of schools in particular areas of need in early June and the EA has been following up with these schools to ascertain their ability and willingness to establish specialist provision for September 2025.