•  The Minister for Education has announced plans for the strategic planning of education provision on an area basis to meet future demand. The area plans will be a key determinant of priorities for new capital investment going forward.

•  Work to develop plans for a shared educational campus at Lisanelly will be progressed with the potential to relocate post-primary schools in the area and one special needs school onto a single site. This scheme will modernise post-primary education in the Omagh area and promote inclusion and enhance community relations.

•  Upon the completion of major works already underway across the Further Education estate, the focus of attention will shift beyond 2014/15 to those colleges that have not had significant investment in recent years and where existing facilities are no longer fit for purpose. Future investment will be focussed to deliver a network across the region that is financially and operationally sustainable and to ensure that investment at one location complements existing provision elsewhere.

•  Our Universities will receive continued support from the Executive through a capital grant funding stream, allowing them to plan ahead strategically.

•  In all areas, work will be taken forward to assess the future strategic estate needs of our education infrastructure and the potential for estate rationalisation to reduce costs, protect access, promote equality of opportunity and improve the quality of service delivered to learners.

Over the budget period (2011-2015)

•  We also plan to invest in the necessary replacement of the libraries operating system, in essential maintenance and in four new mobile libraries.

Beyond the budget period (2016-2021), subject to funding

•  We will undertake deferred investment in a new regional library to improve access to our resource of fine books that forms an important part of our heritage and educational/ lifelong learning resource and adds to our tourism offering. The investment will also demonstrate how intelligent layout and design can be used to focus service delivery on the end-user and release efficiencies for reinvestment in other areas.

•  We will renew planned investment in libraries.