Vol. 553 No. 4
96 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science the cost of the contingency plan regarding supervision and substitution in second level schools to date; the number of people employed as supervisors; the total number of schools involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14257/02]
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.
Contingency arrangements were drawn up by the representative management groups, the joint managerial body, the Irish Vocational Education Association and the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools. Detailed discussions took place with officials of my Department, as part of the contingency plan, and my Department undertook to resource schools in order that they could employ staff to provide supervision and thereby remain open.
Payments amounting to €17.8 million have issued under the plan. The contingency plan acknowledges that supplementary allocations may need to be made to some schools at a later date if their approved outgoings are greater than the amount of the grant. Accordingly, final costs are not yet available.
The contingency plan, by its nature, is flexible and does not specify a pupil-supervisor ratio. As it is recognised that the number of supervisors required would vary from school to school depending on local circumstances including layout, both internal and external, it is considered that school management authorities are best placed to assess the level of cover and the number of persons required on an ongoing basis. Responsibility accordingly for the making of appointments is a matter for school authorities. Information concerning the number of supervisors recruited by schools is not available to my Department.
The management authorities have informed my Department that 500 schools have implemented the plan.
