Written Answers Nos. 130 - 140
130. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way Abtran was to be paid for its role in administering 2012-13 student grants; if there was a fee per student, per document received or per call received; the estimated value of the contract when it was awarded and the projected cost of the contract now; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15613/13]
View answerThe contractual arrangement that Student Universal Support Ireland has with Abtran is a framework agreement which includes attended hourly rates and attended daily rates. This approach provides flexibility in responding to resource demands within the peaks in the workloads that arise during the student grant processing period.
131. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students whose grant applications have been awarded, refused, paid, awarded and awaiting payment, and awaiting further documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15614/13]
View answerI understand from Student Universal Support Ireland that at close of business on 24th March 2013, 37,623 applications have been awarded or provisionally awarded. 23,064 have been refused or cancelled. 790 applications are currently with SUSI for processing, the majority of which are as a result of the close out strategy.
35,589 awards have now been paid. 533 students have to submit course acceptance forms to SUSI in order for their award to be confirmed. 1,501 who have been awarded a grant and are due to be paid. SUSI is awaiting further documentation arising out of the assessment process from 2,801 students. As part of the close out strategy for the 2012/13 academic year, SUSI has contacted these students together with any other applicants who have not completed their application by submitting the required documentation. SUSI is providing these students with a final opportunity to submit the documentation so that applications for 2012/13 can be closed out.
132. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of appeals which have been decided by Student Universal Support Ireland; the percentage success rate; the average length of time of appeal process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15615/13]
View answer133. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of appeals which are currently being considered by Student Universal Support Ireland; the average time for an appeal to be decided; the number of appeals which have been on hand for more than six weeks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15616/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 133 together.
I understand from Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that as of 24th March 2013, 5,769 appeals have been decided by SUSI appeals officers. 3,604 appeals were overturned of which 1,258 were overturned on foot of additional information received from the student.
Appeals received by SUSI are dealt with in date order, and the waiting time for decisions on appeals can vary depending on the complexity of the grant applicant's circumstances which are under appeal. SUSI aims to issue appeal determinations as promptly as possible and within the specified timeframe in the Student Support Act, 2011, which is thirty days.
134. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department was asked for a report on the performance of Abtran in the administration of Student Universal Support Ireland grants as part of the Government tendering process for awarding the customer service contract for property tax queries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15617/13]
View answerI understand that the Revenue Commissioners contacted Student Universal Support Ireland in relation to the company in question for a reference at the end of the tendering process.
135. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills when he will publish the student grant scheme for 2013-14; if Student Universal Support Ireland has requested him to publish the scheme by a certain date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15618/13]
View answerAs a matter of routine, my Department reviews the student grant scheme each year to prepare policy proposals and to include changes announced under the relevant Budget. My Department is currently preparing the necessary regulations for the student grant scheme for 2013/14 with a view to publishing them as early as possible this year.
136. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide details of the review carried out by Student Universal Support Ireland into the administration of student grants this year; the person who carried out the review; the cost of this review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15619/13]
View answerAn external review of Student Universal Support Ireland's business processes is currently being undertaken to inform improvements in the system for the 2013/14 academic year. The review is at an advanced stage and is currently being finalised by Accenture the company carrying out the review. As the review is still on-going the final cost of the review is not yet available.
137. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide details of the way the decision to award the administration of student grants to Student Universal Support Ireland was made in 2012; if any outside consultancy firm was asked to review the systems proposed for administering grants in each tender; if any independent agency gave a value for money review of each tender received; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15620/13]
View answerIn January 2011, my Department issued an Expression of Interest invitation to the VECs, local authorities or other public bodies who might be interested in taking on administrative responsibility for the centralised student grants awarding and payments function. A total of 10 proposals were received. These proposals were examined by an independent selection panel against the evaluation criteria which were an integral part of the Expression of Interest procedure.
On the basis of the review carried out by the panel at the initial stage of the process, four proposals were short-listed for oral presentation. Following oral presentation these proposals were assigned a ranking depending on their relative strengths under each of the evaluation criteria leading to the preferred proposal.
The selection panel evaluated the proposals under each of the following criteria:
- Organisational capacity to perform the function
- Experience in dealing with comparable schemes/services
- Existing core management, expertise and resources available to be deployed to the function.
- Capacity to deliver strong cost and efficiency benefits
- Overall quality of the proposal for delivery of a central student grants function.
Following this process, the selection panel made a recommendation to the Minister for Education and Skills on the preferred proposal which was the City of Dublin VEC proposal to establish Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) as a unit of that VEC. While indicative delivery costs were provided by each of the bodies, they were not as such tender prices, as this was an expression of interest process. These indicative costs were considered under the evaluation criteria which examined the capacity of the bodies to deliver strong cost and efficiency benefits. Each of the short - listed proposals was marked under all of the evaluation criteria heading. An external review of Student Universal Support Ireland's business processes is currently being undertaken to inform improvements in the system for the 2013/14 academic year. The proposed timeline for completion of the review is the end of this month.
139. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm the date for the appointment of a design for a new school building (details supplied). [15637/13]
View answerThe school project referred to by the Deputy is included in the 5 year capital programme and is scheduled to progress to construction in 2014/15.
The OPW had agreed to deliver a number of schools including the school referred to by the Deputy and the process of consultation with the relevant stakeholders on the timeframe for the delivery of these schools will commence shortly.
140. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills when the value for money report on two teacher schools will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15645/13]
View answerThe report of the value for money review of small primary school provision is in the final stages of preparation. I expect to publish the report and I look forward to debating its findings at that stage.
