When my Department was established in 2011, it was given a remit to lead the development of harmonised policy and quality integrated service delivery for children and young people, to carry out specific functions in the social care field and co-ordinate actions across a range of sectors, including health, education, youth justice, sport, arts and culture in support of improved outcomes for children and young people.
On 1 January 2014, the Child and Family Agency was established as the dedicated State Agency for improving well-being and outcomes for children under the remit of my Department. Operational responsibility for the School Completion Programme, including the allocation of funds to local projects was assigned to the Agency from that date.
The objective in incorporating the School Completion Programme into the Child and Family Agency responsibility is to ensure the provision of effective services for children who have difficulties participating in school; to better integrate the educational welfare services with other support services for children and their families and to bring about an increased emphasis on planning, evidence based services and outcome measurement.
The estimate for the Child and Family Agency for 2015 is €631 million, a 4.3% increase on its 2014 allocation. With regard to funding for the School Completion Programme, the Programme, as with all major expenditure programmes, was the subject of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure which indicated savings requirements of the order of six and a half percent were required in each of the years 2012 - 2014 inclusive.
In 2014, an allocation of €24.756 million was provided for the School Completion Programme. The Agency has indicated a similar allocation for the programme in 2015. The Agency has advised that Chairpersons of Local Management Committees have been requested to prepare their school retention plans for the 2015/2016 school year based on the expenditure allocated last year and to return them to the Agency by June 5th. Following receipt of these plans all school completion projects will be notified of their allocations for the 2015/2016 school year.
The ESRI is currently reviewing the School Completion Programme, which will help in future decisions on its structure, governance and operation. The report is almost finalised and it is expected it will be available next month. The Minister for Education and Skills recently published an evaluation of the DEIS programme which was also prepared by the ESRI, and which refers to the School Completion Programme as an integral support within DEIS in improving attendance and engagement in education.
I have advised the Agency of my commitment to ensuring that there is no diminution in the school completion programme services. The School Completion Programme is an important service within the Agency's educational welfare services. It is highly regarded as a key response in securing improved educational outcomes for children and young people at risk of early school leaving.
