Administration of education
The Department of Education's Permanent Secretary is the primary Accounting Officer for monies allocated by the Department, and is responsible to the Minister and to Government for the propriety and regularity of the use of all resources voted by Government for educational and related purposes in the north of Ireland, and for ensuring that value for money is achieved.
Within this responsibility structure, the Department’s Budget Monitoring Team (BMT) is responsible for the budget allocations to the five Education and Library Boards (ELBs) and for the monitoring of related expenditure.
BMT key functions include:
- annual assessment of the Relative Needs Excercise for the allocation of resource funding to ELBs.
- review of ELBs Resource Allocation (Financial) Plans (RAPs) to provide assurance that resource funding is being directed to meet Education and Ministerial Priorities.
- the monitoring of resource expenditure by the ELBs.
Responsibility for the corporate governance and general administration of the five Boards rests with the Department's Education and Governance Team (EGT).
EGT key functions include:
- constitution of Boards
- appointment and training of ELB members and promoting effective governance
- Chief Executive objective setting and performance monitoring arrangements
- general sponsorship issues.
EGT also carries out similar sponsor Branch responsibilities for the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and the Staff Commission for Education and Library Boards (SCELB).
In addition, EGT carries out a range of Governance and Accountability responsibilities for all DE Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs), including:
- appointment of members
- co-ordination of Governance and Accountability Review meetings
- commissioning Quarterly Assurance Statements on Internal Control.
