Mr. Hubert Loftus:

Yes, and we are also conscious of the climate change agenda and the most efficient way of doing business. We look at the existing footprint and space within the school and consider the opportunities for reconfiguration of existing space. We have frameworks in place to provide project management support to schools to do that. We have had very positive feedback from schools in this regard over the past couple of years. That would be our first port of call, looking at opportunities for provision of special classrooms in existing schools. It is only afterwards we would look at what would be coming down the tracks for the normal project pipeline and what we need to do as part of accelerated provision. For example, in 2022 we put a lot of work into accelerated delivery of school building projects and modular accommodation to support special classroom provision across schools.

That facilitated something in the order of 900 students getting a special school place very quickly.