To ask the Minister of Education (i) for an update on the progress of the Fresh Start support funding for Integrated Education for potential new buildings or refurbishments; (ii) to confirm the position in the process for each school accepted for a new build; and (ii) when each build is expected to break ground.

The Fresh Start Agreement (FSA) set out a commitment by the UK Government (UKG) to release up to £500m of new capital funding over 10 years to support shared and integrated education and housing, subject to individual projects being agreed between the Executive and the UKG. The Fresh Start announcement in 2016 confirmed funding for 17 schemes to proceed to planning and approval for construction in 6 projects. In June 2018, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced approval to release FSA funding for the Strule SEC Programme. A further announcement in November 2018 confirmed funding for a further 5 integrated schemes to proceed in principle. A full list of projects is included in the table below, which indicates the current position and the anticipated start on site.

The total spend from the Fresh Start allocation to the end of the financial year 2020/21 is just under £37.3m. While this spend to date is low relative to the overall £500m total available, this is to be expected in a programme of this size where the early work on procuring design teams, identifying site options, preparing business cases, completing the design and procuring a contractor is very time-consuming but not capital intensive. The projected spend profile will ramp up significantly in coming years as projects move into the construction phase.

The following table indicates the current status and anticipated start date of the 28 projects (excluding Strule) announced to date. Capital Projects are complex by their very nature and a variety of factors can contribute to delays which cumulatively impact on delivery of a project. The programme will of course be subject to regular review, particularly in light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation.