Vol. 766 No. 3
1Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects to receive proposals from the Capital Asset Test implementation group regarding higher education grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26033/12]
As the Deputy will be aware, as part of the overall budget measures announced last December, it was signalled that it is proposed to amend the means test for student grants to take account of the value of certain capital assets as well as income for new applicants from the 2013-14 academic year. A capital asset test implementation group has been convened to develop and bring forward detailed proposals on new means testing arrangements to include the value of assets. This group has met on three occasions and its deliberations are ongoing. I anticipate that the group will report to me by the summer and will make recommendations on the inclusion or exclusion of certain classes of assets. Any proposals arising from these recommendations will require, in the first instance, Government agreement and subsequently will necessitate legislative amendment.
The announcement in budget 2012 that the value of certain capital assets would be taken into account in the assessment of means for student grants has caused concern to many self employed people, particularly land owners and farmers. It would be absolutely wrong to include productive assets in the means assessment. Such a system would discriminate against self employed people, including farmers. Does the Minister agree that those productive assets are required by the self employed to generate an income and that the inclusion of such assets would be discriminatory and would deny access to higher education for many students from low income families who are self employed, including the farming community?
This has been an issue for a long time, dating back to the Dónal de Buitléir report in the mid-1990s. It was a time when the tax records of the self employed, be they farmers or people with small businesses, were far less accurate and up to date and, I dare say, probably capable of a manipulation then that is not the case now. I accept that the regulatory framework and the taxation and scrutiny of self employed people, along with the advent of modern technology, have made the situation far different. Nevertheless, to have a level playing pitch, it is reasonable to include a means testing mechanism which takes into account assets in addition to the family home, which a PAYE worker would have in most instances and which never formed part of the means testing assessment basis, to see if there is room for some degree of evaluation above and beyond the nominal household income for the purposes of determining ability to pay in respect of an application for a grant.
As I said earlier, work is still ongoing. I will publish the report when it becomes available and we will have a discussion on it. Depending on the outcome of that discussion and whatever recommendations emerge from it, we will take it to the Government in the first instance and legislative changes would then be necessary. Any change that will emerge from this process will not take effect until the 2013-14 academic year, so there is plenty of time for me to respond to the Deputy and to the House.
Could the Minister ensure that the group looks at the social welfare assessment system? In the Department of Social Protection's means assessment farm land is categorised as property personally used and enjoyed. The assessment is based on the annual income derived from that asset and, quite correctly, there can be no additional calculation of notional means for the value of the asset. That is a fair method of assessment of farm land vis-à-vis income. Similarly, the same position should obtain for shop owners, pub owners or people who run their enterprise from a building adjacent to their house or elsewhere.
Can the Minister give an assurance that the productive assets will be excluded from the means test? That would be a statement that the system will be fair and not discriminatory. We have moved a long way from the time when there were abuses in regard to income returns.
I accept that.
Quite correctly, we have moved a long way from that. Consider the situation in farming. Unfortunately, farm income can be very cyclical. One can have one or two good years but, unfortunately, that can be affected by weather, even weather in another continent. The dairy farmer, for example, can have a good year but if there are favourable climate conditions in Australia, New Zealand or America which results in a small increase in their overall production, it can skew the worldwide market. Income drops considerably because of the extra product available. By definition, there will be less demand for our products and we depend on trade. The Minister must give a clear message that productive assets will not be included in the means assessment for student grants.
I welcome the Deputy's comments and his acceptance that in the past things were done differently and in a way that none of us would agree with today. However, we are dealing with the present. I have no wish to introduce a new system of means assessment that is unfair. That is not my intention. It will therefore receive rigorous analysis and scrutiny before we proceed. I recognise the Deputy's agricultural expertise and accept the global impact weather conditions can have, as well as the fact we are dealing with a worldwide commodity market, even for something as fragile as milk in respect of time and distance travelled.
I do not know what will be the outcome of this report. It is my inclination and intention to publish it as soon as possible after I receive it and then to have a debate on it and listen to people's opinions. However, in the general areas in which means testing is being undertaken, such as for social welfare purposes and probably for Department of Health purposes with regard to nursing home care and so on, it would be commonsensical and preferable to have a single means testing system. This is my personal view but it is shared informally by colleagues in the Cabinet. It would be preferable to have in place a single system in respect of student grants, social welfare for the unemployed who previously were self-employed, sectors of health and so on. Consequently, we should get this right and should consider and then discuss whatever recommendations are made.
Before moving on to the next question, I ask the Minister to pause for a moment. Unfortunately, as no application was received by the Ceann Comhairle's office, I am unable to permit the substitution of Deputy Colreavy for Deputy Crowe and we must move on to question No. 3.
Would it be in order for me to propose that the House accepts Deputy Colreavy?
Agreed.
No, in the first instance it is a matter for the Ceann Comhairle. Perhaps the House can agree to it.
Members can set a precedent.
That facility has been extended in the past.
It is time Members made new rules anyway.
It has been extended in the past.
I ask Deputies not to be worried or concerned. I will take a decision to allow the question.
I thank the Acting Chairman, Deputies and the Minister.
2Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the introduction of measures to reduce the financial burden on parents when paying for school uniforms at primary and post primary level. [26073/12]
The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme, operated by the Department of Social Protection, provides support for eligible families to assist with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn. As the Deputy is aware, eligibility for the back to school allowance is determined and administered by the Department of Social Protection and is, therefore, primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection.
Decisions regarding each school's policy with regard to school uniforms are dealt with at local school level. My Department recommends that the formulation of such a school policy should allow for prior consultation with teachers, parents and pupils where appropriate and enable any concerns about the issue of cost to be raised and considered. I encourage schools to consider, where possible, the use of generic uniforms or any other measures that can reduce the cost for parents of school uniforms.
I thank the Acting Chairman, the Minister and Deputies for allowing my continued presence in the Chamber. I am surprised the Ceann Comhairle was not notified because as early as last week, Deputy Crowe had asked me to tender his apologies for being unable to be present today. He had planned to be absent this week before the rota was agreed to.
For the information of the Deputy, I am advised there must be an application to the Ceann Comhairle's office and that seemingly did not happen.
I understand.
As we have made our decision, the Deputy should proceed.
I thank the Acting Chairman. Before turning to this question, I commend Deputy Smith on his question. I ask the Minister to consider another perspective on it because people in rural areas who consider fees, transport charges, changes in maintenance grants and to the guidelines concerning the distance from education centres, may conclude that education and third level education in particular will be the preserve only of the sons and daughters of the very wealthy. This wider perspective must be taken into account.
I thank the Deputy.
As for this question, my party colleague, Deputy Crowe, raised this issue with the Minister more than a year ago. The Minister made a commitment to consider implementing measures that would help to alleviate the burden on hard-pressed parents who are obliged to pay for school uniforms. While this may be stating the obvious, a growing number of families are struggling to pay for even the most essential items and the start of a new school term can be a very difficult time. A survey carried out last year by the Irish League of Credit Unions found that on average, €400 will be spent annually on each individual child attending school. It is a serious amount of money that increases further when combined with additional expenses, such as paying for books and being obliged to make the so-called voluntary contributions to school funds. Many parents are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the rising costs of sending a child to school.
I understand that when this issue was raised at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education, the Minister agreed to consider introducing a number of initiatives, including standardising the design and colours of uniforms and providing an option for parents to sew on the school crests. These are relatively simple but highly practical measures that would allow families the opportunity to shop around for better deals and not to be forced to rely on a select number of retail outlets, which often charge outrageous prices for uniforms. As the end of the current school term approaches, can the Minister provide an assurance that the Department will implement the type of cost saving measures that can ease some of the financial burdens faced by parents when sending their children to school? More must be done than has been the case heretofore. I acknowledge there are areas of overlap between the Departments of Social Protection and Education and Skills and traditionally, the approach has been to leave it up to each local school to do its own thing. However, leadership is required in this regard and the Minister is the person to provide it. An indication from the Minister that this would be welcomed by the Department of Education and Skills would make a big difference and perhaps would prompt schools to introduce this simple but highly cost-effective measure.
I also encourage the Department of Education and Skills to promote a policy that would encourage parents to pass on their school uniforms, which often must be replaced annually, as children quickly outgrow them. Such uniforms could be re-used by other children at a fraction of the cost of being discarded automatically. When one considers that on average, it costs €470 for a second level student and €320 for a child attending primary school, everything possible must be done to reduce the cost of clothing a child in a school uniform. Charities such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are doing their level best to meet these rocketing costs and the Government must do likewise. I urge the Minister to do all within his power to introduce these measures that can help alleviate the cost to parents.
The Deputy is asking me to do all I can within my power to alleviate the cost and I will do this. However, my power is somewhat limited. I have already had informal discussions with the National Parents Council at primary level in this regard and in the first instance, I recommend that it should mobilise the parents associations and parents' representatives on boards of management, at both primary and secondary level, to raise this issue with the school authorities. There is a very simple and practical formula that is available, that is, for the large suppliers to produce a generic range, which already happens. The Deputy is familiar with the school system and I note there are approximately five generic colours that are provided for school uniforms across the system. This could, in a highly competitive manner, provide those garments at a relatively cheap price, certainly much cheaper than what the bespoke school uniforms cost. All that would be required for the school to do would be to sell the emblem, badge or crest and for the parents to undertake that. However, I must stress such an arrangement must be made between the school authorities and the parents. I can encourage it and in response to the Deputy's question, I now do so. Moreover, I will again raise it formally. However, while nothing will happen for the forthcoming academic year, it is something that should be seriously considered for the next academic year after that.
3Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the analysis he or his officials have done in response to the 2010 PISA results, which revealed a dramatic fall in educational standards here, and the steepest decline in literacy standards in the OECD; if so, what that analysis revealed regarding the cause of that decline in standards and the options for addressing same; the actions he is taking to address this decline; and the targets he has set against which his success in reversing the decline in standards can be measured. [25976/12]
There has been extensive analysis of the PISA 2009 results. This includes a recent Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, report that summarises all of the research the Educational Research Centre, ERC, and experts from Statistics Canada have completed on the achievement of Irish students.
The report confirms the possible reasons that were given by the ERC to explain a portion of the decline in achievement recorded in 2009, particularly those related to changes in the student population. The additional data in this report, which suggest that student engagement with the test, as distinct from student ability, may have been an important factor in the decline, is a further piece of valuable information that helps one to understand the PISA 2009 outcomes. Nevertheless, a real decline appears to have occurred in reading standards among 15 year-olds in Ireland between 2000 and 2009.I also am glad to note the ERC report endorses many of the actions I included in the literacy and numeracy strategy I launched in July 2011. The strategy sets clear targets for improvement in literacy and numeracy and a range of actions to be undertaken.
I am slightly concerned by the Minister's answer in regard to the increase in student numbers. It smacks of another disgraceful reason which I heard proffered by some of the unions, namely, the increase in the number of foreign nationals coming here. What I am hearing is a reluctance on the part of some key players to accept responsibility for a system which is failing and failing badly. We have had the biggest decline in educational standards in the developed world in a decade at the same time as we doubled the per capita investment in education, which is a total failure of the system rather than of individual teachers. What concerns me - the situation is the same in respect of the universities - is that I am not hearing an acceptance of this failure. I believe that while the economic situation is obviously the short term threat for Ireland, if we do not only stop this decline but reverse it as quickly as it happened, we will be consigning ourselves to be a second world country for a long time.
Part of the problem is finance. In absolute terms, there will be a 6% cut in capitation grants for schools over the next few years. When one factors in 2% inflation per year, one gets an extra 8% cut in spending power. When one factors in an additional 40,000 or more new students one gets a per student reduction in funding per capitation of 20%. For the universities, this is 30%. Major changes in management practices are required. I am hearing the unions or the Government acknowledge that huge changes are needed. This is not marginal. I welcome the various initiatives being introduced. I am fully aware of the budgetary pressures we are under. However, I believe we need to increase funding in education, in tandem with major reforms to the sector.
In the 1990s when Finland broke its ties to the Soviet Union and its unemployment rate increased from 3% to 18%, it increased its funding in education. I am not seeing brave new ideas here. In 1989 New Zealand had a failing education system. It was in a similar situation to that which we are in now and it closed its Department of Education and set up a ministry of education. I am not suggesting we do that now. However, in terms of game changers, I am not hearing anything. I welcome what is being done but I am not hearing any game changers in respect of a system that is collapsing quite catastrophically, one which will provide 20% less money per student at secondary level and 30% less per student at third level. I am becoming increasingly concerned that our system, despite good efforts at the margin, will continue to decline in a manner that will cause this country harm for the next 30 or 40 years.
I share the Deputy's concern. I was in Opposition when the PISA results were first published. The heads of the results were communicated, as they are to all the national departments, in August of that year. Consequent to that information, research was commissioned by the Department. The ERC in Drumcondra also did some work on this. It was suggested that the increase in the number of immigrant pupils for whom English was not their first language was a contributing factor. Other suggestions included that the schools and pupils in which these examinations took place did not take the examination seriously and that through a combination of factors there was an over-shoot in the measurement. I think that over-shoot is very welcome. I believe it was wake-up call. One can dispute statistics - the Deputy is a professional in this area - but the net result was to shake us all out of our complacency in terms of our believing we had the best education system in the world. That is manure. We have an education system that badly needs to be reformed, which reform I have commenced.
Some €19 million was provided in last year's budget to change the way in which teachers are trained. The uniform testing measurement of the outcomes at different levels, primary and secondary, will now be standardised for the first time and there will be continuous professional development in this area. We will not know for at least another six years if this is working. Despite that extra resources have been put into the education system the outcomes have not improved, in particular in respect of young working class boys aged 15 years. Despite a huge increase in resources over a ten to 15 year period, only 20% of them came out the system functionally literate. Complacency has been struck. Stakeholders will be defensive but I am not. We will reform our education system.
4Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the current status of FÁS; if he will provide a timeline for the establishment of SOLAS; the progress made to date in establishing SOLAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26034/12]
I am responding to this question on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State for Education and Skills, Deputy Ciarán Cannon. Following the Government decision to create SOLAS, an implementation Group was set up to establish it My colleague, Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon chairs this group, the membership of which includes representatives from the Department of Education and Skills, FÁS, the Irish Vocational Education Association, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of the Taoiseach and a representative of the private training sector. This is part of a wider reform programme that also includes the rationalisation of 33 VECS into 16 Education and Training Boards.
The heads of a Bill for the establishment of SOLAS have been approved by Government and were recently referred to the Office of the Attorney General for drafting purposes. The Bill will, inter alia, provide for the establishment of SOLAS and for the dissolution of FÁS. I expect to publish this legislation in the autumn session of this year. Pending completion of the legislative process, FÁS will continue to provide training programmes under the terms of its current mandate.
I thank the Minister for his reply on this matter which we have discussed in this House and in committee on numerous occasions. The Minister stated that it is hoped discussion on the legislation will be completed in the autumn session. Is he reasonably confident that the new structures will be in place by the end of this calendar year? There is confusion among members of the public, who did not have the same opportunity as Members of this House to engage on these issue, in regard to whether FÁS still exists, if it is providing courses and whether SOLAS has been established. There is concern around the provision of new courses by FÁS and the abandonment by it of courses which are no longer to current labour market needs. Perhaps the Minister will provide an assurance that he will try to allay the concerns about the creation of a lacuna in terms of the abolition of FÁS and the establishment of the new structure. We all dread uncertainty in regard to the delivery of a public service. This does nothing for the morale of the people working in the system, be it in FÁS or the VECs, which play an integral role in the area of further education and training.
Perhaps the Minister will also outline if the role of SOLAS will be around the development of courses rather than the provision of services to customers.
I will respond first to the Deputy's final question because it is the most pertinent. We have, and have had for years, an unstructured, informal and badly co-ordinated further education structure in this country, in respect of which no one in particular is to blame. The system has gone topsy over decades. SOLAS will be to the further education sector what the HEA is the higher education sector. It will establish guidelines, determine policy and seek co-ordination but it will not be on the front line in terms of providing services. Services, such as training programmes which will be close to labour market demands and needs and to meeting the requirements of people who become unemployed and need to upskill and retrain will be provided by the local education and training boards who will take over responsibility for the existing FÁS training centres. I hope that system will be up and running by the end of this calendar year.
I am concerned about the timetable in regard to the establishment of SOLAS and the progress being made in this regard. The process is slower than I would like. I am trying to accelerate it and in that regard I am looking for support within the system in terms of drafting of the legislation. There will be no ambiguity or lacuna in relation to the delivery of services. The local education and training boards have been established. They are the amalgamation of existing VECs with which Deputies are familiar. The remit of SOLAS will be clearly identified during the remainder of this year. It is hoped the legislation will be enacted to allow SOLAS commence operation from 1 January 2013. That is the target, which is highly ambitious. I am told it is overly ambitious but if we set an ambitious target we can work hard to achieve it.
I thank the Minister and advise him to stick to the ambitious target. When targets are missed they will continue to be missed and the people who will suffer will be the potential customer or client of FÁS who needs that particular support. There is a need for root and branch review of courses that have been provided and we cannot wait for months for that to happen. I do not know if FÁS is doing that necessary review at present. There are skills shortages in this country and there are so many highly qualified and talented people who have to leave our island to seek work elsewhere. There must be a marrying of the needs of the labour market and the talent and ability of our own people to ensure they are reskilled or upskilled to avail of those potential job opportunities.
It is grand for the public service, in general. This is not a criticism of any Department but of the public service, no matter who is in power, which does not react rapidly enough. The people who will be suffering will be those who need the courses. I wonder if the new Solas body is to be similar to the HEA; we discussed one issue previously in this regard. There is unnecessary duplication of courses in our higher education sector and I hope that can be eliminated in future. Solas will need to ensure there is no such unnecessary duplication throughout our new education and training bodies throughout the country and that the needs of the customers and our people are met.
I share the concerns the Deputy expressed and agree with him. The kind of work FÁS did in the 1980s and 1990s is no longer appropriate to the needs of the labour market. The announcement I made on Monday of 6,000 new places for Springboard is much closer to what people actually want because the skills level of the labour market has been improved and the demand from industry for the jobs for which there currently are vacancies is in the high-tech space and in other areas. This was not really the traditional remit of FÁS, which was dominated by the construction sector. We will be changing the traditional pattern of delivery but there will be no gap or lacuna between moving from what FÁS is currently doing to what needs to be done by Solas and the 16 delivery agencies under the local education and training boards.
5Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to implement an internal review of the State’s education sector in an effort to improve efficiency and secure savings from a range of educational services; and if any savings will be redirected into frontline education services. [26074/12]
This Government on entering office ordered a comprehensive review of expenditure, whereby Departments reviewed their expenditure programmes in depth. This was done to realign spending with Government priorities, while also seeking expenditure savings, necessitated because of decisions of the past. My Department had to find savings of €76 million in 2012, rising to €379 million in 2014, required to remain within the expenditure ceilings set for the next three years. In doing so I sought to protect front-line education services as far as possible. I also needed to fund new initiatives, such as literacy and numeracy programmes, junior certificate reform and the roll-out of high speed broadband to all second level schools. The measures in budget 2012 drew on the results of this review. In addition to necessary adjustments in programme expenditure, the allocation for my Department takes account of efficiency measures across several areas. These include the rationalisation of the VEC structure, the creation of the new qualifications and quality assurance authority and of a single authority for the award of student grants.
I thank the Minister. We raised this matter in the same week the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 was debated on Second Stage in the House. That legislation is designed to bring together four existing bodies into a single entity, the Qualification and Assurance Authority of Ireland, in an effort to concentrate services and bring a range of benefits to qualifications and quality assurance processes in Ireland. At the same time, it is hoped it will save the Department €1 million annually. My party commends the Minister on introducing this Bill. It has some flaws but it attempts to streamline the delivery of important services and in these financially straitened times it is important that any inefficiencies within any Department budget are addressed in order to prevent wastage and the duplication of services.
Last week my party colleague in the Assembly, the Minister for Education, John O'Dowd, MLA, announced a further funding allocation of £72 million that will be spent in the coming three years, following a review of the North's education budget. This additional funding is very good news for anybody interested in education on the island of Ireland. It will be spent on important school programmes such as early years, extended schools and the youth service as well as on the maintenance of the school estates. This money was secured after an internal review led to further reductions in bureaucracy and to savings from the educational services. That is the kind of process that is worth replicating in the Twenty-Six Counties.
In the face of tough financial challenges any wastage within the Department's budget must be identified and the money reinvested into the type of front-line education services that have been prioritised in the North. The difference is that here we are making savings to departmental budgets but those savings are not being reinvested into front-line services.
As a result of the review implemented by the Minister, John O'Dowd, thousands of families will now enjoy additional funding for free school meals, uniform grants. Some £27 million is to be ring-fenced in 2012-2013 to help address the maintenance backlog, a measure that is added good news for the beleaguered construction industry. Every effort must be made to ensure that funding opportunities can be identified through looking at departmental, interdepartmental and inter-agency working. Of those savings that are identified, at least some must be redirected to front line services. Otherwise the overall quality of education will not improve to the levels spoken about in the previous questions.
I welcome the Deputy's comments and am working co-operatively and constructively with my colleague and counterpart in Northern Ireland, who now has responsibility for the same set of responsibilities, including for higher education, as I have. However, Mr. O'Dowd is confronted with different problems. The schoolgoing population of Northern Ireland is declining. The Minister has stated that a sustainable schools policy for post-primary schools should involve a minimum school population of 500 pupils. The INTO forecasts that this would result in 70 schools closing in Northern Ireland and reckons that as many as 1,000 teachers will lose their jobs whereas in the South they would be redeployed. There are no redeployment panels in the North so if a teacher is no longer required in a school he or she loses that job and becomes redundant. In addition, according to the INTO, 3,000 classroom assistants will also lose their posts next year.
Mr. O'Dowd has also cancelled 52 new school building programmes and is, in effect, saving £500 million there. There will also be a reduction of some £100 in the capitation fund for every school child as and from 20 December 2012. As the Deputy knows, university fees in Northern Ireland are £3,375 as against €2,250 here. We are not necessarily comparing like with like. However, we are working together where we can do so. I was able to find savings, for example, within my Department to fund the national literacy and numeracy strategy as well as other projects we have done.
