Enda Kenny
Question:165 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science the cost of substitute teachers under contingency plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9538/02]
Written Answers. - School Staffing.
Officials of my Department held discussions with the representatives of the managerial authorities in the second level sector in order to ensure that schools would remain open when the ASTI directive to its members to withdraw from voluntary supervision and substitution duties took effect on 4 March 2002. Arising from these discussions a contingency plan was prepared and agreed between my Department and the managerial authorities. As part of the contingency arrangements, my Department undertook to resource schools in order that they could employ staff to provide supervision and thereby remain open. In addition, my Department under took to recoup the cost to the management authorities in advertising for, recruiting and training appropriate personnel to provide supervision services in schools on a temporary contractual basis.
Supervisors who contracted for delivery of supervision services are being remunerated at a daily contract rate of €68.56, £54, based on a minimum of two hours supervision. Where further supervision above these two hours is required this is being remunerated at €34.28, £27, per additional hour. This is the equivalent to the hourly rate offered to teachers. To put schools in funds for the purposes of the contingency arrangements, an initial payment was made to schools by my Department on 28 February 2002. This was based upon six weeks of the annual grant, calculated on the basis of €1,270, £1,000, per whole time equivalent teacher post per annum, with a stipulation that further payments of the grant will be made to schools at the appropriate stages of the contingency. In addition, funding was provided to cover employers' PRSI, holiday pay and administrative costs. In aggregate, the sum dispersed to schools was approximately €7 million, £5.5 million.
The contingency plan acknowledges that supplementary allocations may need to be made to some schools at a later stage if their approved outgoings are greater than the amount of the grant. Accordingly, the final costs are not yet available. The joint managerial body, JMB, placed advertisements on behalf of the managerial authorities in the national media over the weekend of 16-17 February. In addition, the JMB organised training on a regional basis and operated a telephone helpline for schools. My Department has recouped €114,258.47 to the JMB to offset the cost of providing these services to date. Information concerning the number of people recruited and the number of schools in which they are working is not readily available at this stage, as these personnel are recruited directly by the school authorities. The contingency plan does not specify a pupil to supervisor ratio, as the plan recognised that the number of persons required would vary from school to school depending on the layout, both internal and external.