Vol. 482 No. 2
111 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of staff engaged full-time and part-time in the administration of third level grants, centrally and locally; the number of man-years involved; and the estimate of the increased staffing requirement to administer the application of third level grants to the postleaving certificate sector. [17504/97]
The third level student support schemes are administered by the local authorities and the vocational education committees. My Department has no function in providing staff resources to the local authorities as it is a matter for the management of each authority to determine what the necessary staffing requirements are to administer the student support schemes.
Annual funding is provided to the vocational education committees by my Department for the administration of various schemes in the second level sector in addition to the administration of the student support schemes. It is not possible to determine the overall number of full and part-time staff engaged specifically on the administration of these schemes as the number of applications and the seasonal nature of the work differs in each vocational education committee and as the staff are also engaged on other duties.
Seven staff are employed full-time to administer the student support schemes in my Department. A further ten staff also have an occasional input into this work.
My Department is considering, inter alia, the staffing implications and costs of the introduction of a PLC grants scheme.
