To ask the Minister of Education, further to the NI Audit Office report Managing the Schools' Estate, whether he will develop a school estate management strategy.

Officials from my Department are progressing the development of an Estate Strategy as recommended in the recent Northern Ireland Audit Office report on Managing the Schools' Estate.

Estate Strategies in other jurisdictions and sectors have been examined to ensure that the Department's emerging Estate Strategy aligns with those approaches and adopts best practice wherever possible.

I am advised that good progress has been made to date and a work in progress draft of the Strategy will be presented to senior management within the Department for consideration, discussion and further development as necessary in the coming weeks. Following this engagement, and subsequently my own consideration and endorsement of the emerging strategy, I expect the Department's Estate Strategy to be in place in the coming months.