Mr. Kieran Rogers:

I will follow on in respect of the ISL recruitment scheme. We undertook two pilots relating to classroom support in the south of the country. Both proved to be unsuccessful in finding a suitably qualified candidate for the post. One campaign was undertaken for the ISL adviser role, which also resulted in no qualified candidate coming forward. We then decided to undertake a national campaign, which has just finished the interviewing stage, and a panel has now been formed. Seven successful candidates were identified within that recruitment campaign. However, that falls considerably short of the 20 we looked for. We expect the first successful applicant will be appointed to the role in the coming weeks, and definitely before the start of the new school year, for the relevant schools. As the national campaign has demonstrated a deficiency in the skills available through the interview and recruitment process, we intend to engage with both the Departments of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and Education, to discuss options with regard to expanding the pool to support these new roles, which are critical for the children with the greatest need in terms of being deaf or hard of hearing.