To ask the Minister of Education (i) why the remuneration for the Independent Chair and Panel members for the Integrated Review of Education is significantly below that offered and provided to the panel who completed the Systems, Not Structures: Changing Health and Social Care review; and (ii) to confirm what criteria he used to determine the remuneration now offered.

The level of remuneration provided to the members of the “Systems, Not Structures: Changing Health and Social Care” review panel is a matter for the Department of Health.

In determining the remuneration to be offered to the Independent Review of Education panel members, consideration was given to the costs associated with similar review panels and boards. This included the panel led by Professor Bengoa, comparable board-level roles in Northern Ireland and Great Britain and daily rates for senior civil servants and non-executive board members. Ultimately, I determined that rates should be the same as those provided to members of the Expert Panel on Educational Underachievement.