Dr. David Hughes:

Yes. That breadth of opportunity is a very important part of it.

The relationship between the Department of Education and Skills and the Northern Ireland Department of Education is very similar to what has just been described. Obviously, there is political engagement and regular engagement at a high level. There is also simply picking up the telephone to say: "We are up to this. Can you let us know what are you doing in that area?". That type of engagement and dialogue happens regularly.

I wish to make a point about west Belfast. The levels of educational attainment in west Belfast are increasing very impressively. There are a number of factors in that regard which we recognise, one of which is the degree of community buy-in to the importance of education. It is not schools alone doing it; there is a great deal of community buy-in. In west Belfast there has been a piloted approach to co-operation between schools. All post-primary schools belong to clusters and there are 30 area learning communities. Some of them are very effective, some are a little looser, some adopt many roles and some of them keep themselves quite focused. In west Belfast an effort has been made to expand the degree to which the schools are working together, so there are groups of not just principals and vice-principals but also of heads of departments. The special educational needs co-ordinators meet, as do the curriculum devisers. They are also now extending into the primary schools and nursery schools.

That has been ongoing and that work has made a real impact. There is a cohesion to educational delivery and real buy-in. I am not saying west Belfast is unique in that, but this programme is unique. We hope it will not be unique for much longer. We will see where it goes. If one day the issue of unemployment is transformed, I expect it will be because the attitude towards education has taken so many steps forward.