Vol. 472 No. 3
166 Mr. Martin asked the Minister for Education whether she has withdrawn staff from the examinations branch of her Department to provide staff to cope with the introduction of an early retirement scheme for primary teachers in spite of the contents of a report from Price Waterhouse; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23132/96]
As part of the ongoing discussions with the teacher unions under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work it was recently agreed to process a limited number of applications for early retirement by primary teachers before the end of 1996. Good management practice involves the most effective use of staffing resources, having regard to the cycle nature of certain work loads within the Department. In accordance with practice a small number of staff have been temporarily redeployed from an area within the examinations branch, which is traditionally in a valley period at this time, to assist the existing staff within the primary pensions area to complete this task within the tight deadline.
