Access to success

Thursday 25 October 2012

MLA presses NI employment and learning minister on link between transport and education following Mencap event

Tom Buchanan MLA raised the important link between transport and access to higher education for people with a learning disability during a recent ministerial statement.

The West Tyrone MLA was one of a group of local MLAs who attended Mencap’s western district meeting in Strabane, in September – Going Places – Access to Transport. They had all agreed to raise the issues discussed on the floor of the Assembly.

Buchanan questioned Dr Stephen Farry, the Minister for Employment and Learning, the day after the meeting. During a ministerial statement on Access to Success  – a new regional strategy aimed at widening participation in higher education – he asked the minister what discussions he had undertaken with other departments to ensure that proper community transport was in place, in order to deliver the strategy’s objectives.

In his response, Dr Farry gave a commitment to take discussions forward with the Department for Regional Development, the department with responsibility for community transport, as part of the implementation of the strategy.

Read Tom Buchanan’s question and the minister’s response