The exchange with the leader of the Stormont Opposition Matthew O’Toole came as Mr Givan delivered a proposal for an Executive-led investment programme into special education.

Mr Givan asked for the support of all the political parties around the chamber for his proposal for a £1.7 billion Executive-led programme to tackle spiralling demand for special education.

Mr O’Toole put to Mr Givan that special education provision is a “critical issue”, but said he was “outsourcing responsibility for the budget to other parties, having insourced all of the most controversial things that you have done gleefully over the last year and a half”.

“But on the subject of outsourcing, I want to specifically ask you something very directly, and I’d like a direct answer.

“Parents and pupils are grappling

See Full Page