To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland why special schools in Northern Ireland are not permitted to move to integrated status. (78979)

Article 90 (2) of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 as amended by the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 and the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 prohibits special schools from attaining controlled integrated status. While it is accepted that most special schools have both Protestant and Roman Catholic children, integrated status is not appropriate for the special school sector, where developmental needs are necessarily assessed on the basis of specialised criteria, related to the individual special educational needs of the child.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many schools in Northern Ireland, apart from integrated schools, have 10 per cent. or more of the minority tradition enrolled; and what the figures were in each of the preceding 10 years. (78983)

The requested information is as follows.