Trevor Lunn MLA said: “Alliance has campaigned for a very long time to have an Education and Skills Authority created and we had a motion on the issue successfully passed in the Assembly recently. It is estimated that we could save around £20 million a year by having a single educational body, so agreement on this issue is long overdue.
“We are pleased at this announcement however we would like to see there being a sectoral support body for the integrated and possibly the Irish Medium sector being created such as those being proposed for the Controlled and Maintained sectors.
“This body will be very important to ensuring strong and coherent governance in our education system while also delivering the best possible value for money. By having a single body we can hopefully cut down on the bureaucracy and ensure that more money is spent on teachers and classrooms.
“I look forward to working with the Minister through the Education Committee on the legislation to get the Educational and Skills Authority up and running as quickly as possible.”
ENDS