Northern Ireland’s Department of Education has launched fraud investigations into buying practices at two education authorities after discovering procurement irregularities in school contracts.
Launching the inquiries, education minister Caitríona Ruane informed the Northern Ireland Assembly of serious concerns surrounding procurement activities at the North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) and the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB).
The external investigation into the NEELB, County Antrim’s local education authority, follows its purchase of a £8.2 million school building for Magherafelt High school. This involved an agreement with a contractor without the full approval of the Department of Education. Despite lacking approval, the board paid the contractor for work.
The minister also expressed “serious concerns” around procurement practices at SEELB, which covers most of County Down and a small part of Country Antrim. She described a “suspected fraud” concerning the installation of heating equipment in a school, where second-hand burners were put in. Additional procurement irregularities linked to a maintenance contract led Ruane to commission an investigation into the contract and procurement practices at the SEELB.
Ruane has also instructed her department to create a Centre of Procurement Expertise for the education sector. It will carry out an assessment of the region’s capacity to manage contracts and procurement practices across the education sector.
She said: “In the light of these events I have determined that further action is needed to provide assurance to me as minister and to the executive that procurement practices across the education sector are professional.”
NI Education Minister’s Statement To Assembly On Procurement
Comment: The reference to "also" in the title to this post?
See this.
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