Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2006
649 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of staff required by the Educational Welfare Board to provide the services as anticipated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34620/06]
View answer650 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of staff available to the Educational Welfare Board in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34621/06]
View answer651 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the staffing levels available to the Educational Welfare Board; the number of staff available in each county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34622/06]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 649 to 651, inclusive, together.
The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was established under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 as the single national body with responsibility for school attendance. The Act provides a comprehensive framework which promotes regular school attendance and tackles the problems of absenteeism and early school leaving. The general functions of the Board are to ensure that every child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education.
The Board is developing a nationwide service, on a continuing basis that is accessible to schools, parents/guardians and others concerned with the welfare of young people. For this purpose, Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) have been deployed throughout the country to provide a welfare-focused service to support regular school attendance and discharge the Board's functions locally.
The total authorised staffing complement of the Board is 94 comprising 16 HQ and support staff, 5 regional managers, 12 Senior EWOs and 61 EWOs. Five regional teams are in place with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. In deploying its service staff, the NEWB has prioritised the provision of services to the most disadvantaged areas and the most at-risk groups. This deployment includes areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme where an intensive full level of service is provided. Since September 2005 every county in Ireland is served by an educational welfare service.
In addition to the NEWB personnel there are some 490 staff, within the education sector, deployed in education disadvantage programmes whose work involves an element of school attendance and significant scope exists for integrated working between these personnel and Educational Welfare Officers. My Department is anxious to ensure that the maximum benefit is derived from these substantial personnel resources. Consequently work is ongoing to develop appropriate protocols for all agencies and services to work together in collaboration and to ensure that optimum use is made of the resources deployed including NEWB resources. It is anticipated that the outcome of this work will inform my Department on staffing requirement for the NEWB into the future.
This government is determined to do all that is possible to ensure that every child gets all the opportunities and support they need to enable them to achieve their potential and participate fully in education. I will be keeping the issue of the NEWB's staffing under review in light of the rollout of services, the scope for integrated working and any proposals that the Board may put to me in relation to clearly identified priority needs.
In relation to the Deputy's specific question concerning the deployment of welfare staff in Co. Kildare. The deployment of service delivery personnel is an operational matter for the NEWB. I have been informed by the board that Co. Kildare is part of the NEWB Leinster South Region which consists of eight individual locations with 15 staff assigned to the region in total. Of this number, 1 EWO is assigned on a full time basis to County Kildare. There is of course a school attendance element to the work of all the Home School Community Liaison officers that serve schools in Kildare, as well as to that of staff in other programmes aimed at tackling disadvantage.
