Jonathan O'Brien
Question:81. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a breakdown on social inclusion spending in his Department for each of the past four years. [20543/14]
View answerWednesday, 7 May 2014
Questions (81)
Written answers
A key goal for my Department is the provision of a quality and inclusive school and early year's education system with improved learning outcomes for all. There are social inclusion elements to the Department's expenditure across the education continuum and these are funded under specific measures to tackle educational disadvantage. These measures include key areas of service delivery at Early Years Education; Compulsory School Age under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the Action Plan for Educational Disadvantage which focuses on addressing and prioritising the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities; Equity of Access to Higher Level and a range of programmes in Further Education & Training including compensatory measures for adults and early school leavers.
Overall funding in respect of the years in questions is as follows:
|
Year |
€ |
|
2011 |
755.66 million |
|
2012 |
682.56 million |
|
2013 |
685.44 million |
|
2014 |
675.82 (Allocation) |
It should be noted that my colleagues the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs also provide funding for measures designed to combat educational disadvantage through the Schools Meals Programme and for the School Completion Programme, respectively. Considerable resources are also deployed to support the education of children and young people with Special Educational Needs. In 2014, €1.3 billion - approximately 15% of the Department of Education and Skills budget - is being allocated to supporting children with special educational needs. The equivalent spends for 2011, 2012 and 2013 were €1.2bn, €1.26bn and €1.3bn respectively.
As already noted there are social inclusion elements to the Department's expenditure across the education continuum, accordingly, the foregoing figures do not necessarily reflect the full extent of my Department's expenditure in this area.