Vol. 516 No. 2
55 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education and Science the steps, if any, his Department has taken in order to conform to the National Anti-poverty Strategy; the structural change, if any, in the way his Department conducts business; the way in which national anti-poverty targets have informed education policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7233/00]
My Department has fully supported the national anti-poverty strategy since its launch in April 1997 and my officials have participated in the work of the inter-departmental NAPS Committee. This committee, which is co-chaired by the Departments of the Taoiseach and Social, Community and Family Affairs, is responsible for ensuring the co-ordination and implementation of the national anti-poverty strategy.
All the educational disadvantage targets from pre-school up to second chance education and third level access in the national anti-poverty strategy have played a significant role in informing policy development in my Department at all levels of the education system. This has resulted in the past two years in significant investment and improvements in many key areas within the education system. These areas were identified in the £57 million plan to tackle educational disadvantage announced in the 1999 budget and in the £194 million plan announced in December last.
This represents a move away from the piecemeal approach of previous times and represents the largest concentrated effort to tackle educational disadvantage in our history. It is a wide-ranging initiative which touches on every level from early education, first level, second level with particular emphasis on measures to improve retention, second chance education including the back-to-education initiative, adult literacy and third level access programmes.
