The Education Minister Paul Givan did not breach the ministerial code over a trip to Israel, according to the Assembly Commissioner for Standards.

The week-long trip, paid for by the Israeli government in October 2025, led to a no-confidence motion in Givan in the assembly.

However, the motion failed to get cross-community support.

In a statement following the publication of the commissioner's report, Givan accused those behind the no-confidence motion of "an attempted political lynching".

During his trip, Givan visited a school in east Jerusalem, and a post about the visit was put on the Department of Education (DE) website and social media.

The minister also faced criticism from the body which represents Northern Ireland's main teaching unions over the trip.

The Assembly's Commissioner for Standards investigates complaints against members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) and ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.

They launched an investigation into Givan's Israel trip following a number of complaints and questions.

Those included whether Givan had taken the trip in his role as minister or as an MLA, the use of Department of Education resources and public funds, and whether the trip had breached the political impartiality of the civil service.

But the commissioner did not uphold the complaints and found that Givan had not breached the ministerial code by going on the trip to Israel.

MLAs on Stormont's cross-party Standards Committee had also asked the commissioner to investigate whether Givan had attended the trip as an MLA as "his letter to the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs accepting the invitation was as minister of education and on DE headed paper".

The committee also queried why officials in the minister's private office had supported him by "requesting travel options, checking luggage allowance on flights, finalising travel details and relaying itinerary information".

The committee said that could breach the political impartiality of the civil service.

But the standards commissioner found that Givan had gone to Israel in his capacity as an MLA, and that the work on the trip by departmental officials was "negligible and not inappropriate".

"Mr Givan, in interview described the visit as a cultural, fact-finding exchange and an opportunity to experience and hear from people," the commissioner's report said.

"The press release issued by Mr Givan on the department website contained no political opinion or commentary."

Givan has welcomed the commissioner's report and the conclusion that he had not breached the ministerial code.

In a strongly-worded statement on the DE website, Givan said the assembly had been "turned into a kangaroo court," when the no-confidence motion against him had been debated.

"The commissioner's report carefully examines every aspect of the trip and exposes the falsehoods at the heart of the motion that was tabled," he said.

"In a rush to judgement by nationalist MLAs and the Alliance Party, all objectivity was set aside and instead they opted for an attempted political lynching."