Vol. 537 No. 2
381 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science the current situation regarding the NEPS; if he will make additional funding immediately available to schools to facilitate the assessment of pupils who are urgently in need of this service as an interim measure; and if he will reimburse the many schools which have already paid to have children assessed out of their own resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15589/01]
The new NEPS agency came into existence on 1 September 1999 with 42 psychologists already employed in the service. The recruitment of additional psychologists involved the organisation of a competition through the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission. Notwithstanding the time consuming nature of such competitions there are now 82 psychologists in NEPS and, by the end of this school year, there will be 100 psychologists in the service. I also intend to proceed with the recruitment of a further 28 psychologists before the end of this calendar year. This will raise the staffing to 128 and greatly improve the service.
I am very aware of the difficulties that have been experienced by schools in gaining access to psychological assessments in urgent cases, pending the appointment of the full quota of psychologists for NEPS. I recently announced funding of £1.25 million for an important new initiative aimed at addressing these difficulties. NEPS will be communicating details of the new scheme to all schools in June.
