To ask the Minister of Finance (i) for an update on her engagement with HM Treasury on the Non-Teaching Pay and Grading Review; and (ii) what impact the pre-election period of sensitivity will have on this engagement.

I wrote to the Chief Secretary of the Treasury on 17 May 2024, seeking her agreement to re-profile £180m of future years’ funding into 2024-25 to enable implementation of the Non-Teaching Pay and Grading Review. I have not yet received a response.

Since the Westminster General Election has now been called for 04 July 2024, it is now less likely that I will receive a response to this request before the Executive’s consideration of June Monitoring.

Given the importance of resolving this issue, I wrote to the Education Minister on 30 May 2024 to advise that he may wish to consider submitting a bid to June Monitoring to enable the Executive to consider it in the round and in the context of the competing pressures across departments.

I understand that the Education Minister is engaging with unions to ensure that the pay and grading review is implemented from 1 April this year, and I will continue to work with him to reach an early resolution on this matter, given the importance of these staff in delivering vital services to our children and young people.