Written Answers Nos. 265-276
265. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the names and the organisation and-or sector they represent of the five persons appointed to each Education and Training Board, under Section 30 (d) of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29250/15]
View answerThe membership of Education and Training Boards' (ETB) may change over time as vacancies arise, and there is no requirement for ETBs to provide to my Department the names of, or the organisation/sector represented by, the five persons appointed under Section 30 (d) of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013.
Up to date information on the composition of boards is available from individual ETBs.
266. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a minor works grant will be paid to primary schools in autumn 2014; if specific funding has been allocated for the grant in the Department's 2015 budget; the amount of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29280/15]
View answerThe Minor Works Grant for the school year 2014/2015 was issued to all primary schools last December. For the first time the grant issued also to schools with provisional recognition only.
I will be considering the issue of the Minor Works Grant for 2015/16 in the context of my Department's overall capital position later in the year.
267. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills when a detailed reply will issue to a letter from this Deputy (details supplied) sent some considerable time ago; the timeframe within which she views it satisfactory for such replies to issue; the reason for the delay; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29297/15]
View answerGiven the increase in the School Transport Section workload at this time of the year combined with the routine administrative work in relation to school transport provision generally, regrettably, it was not feasible to deal with the increased volume of representations in a more timely manner.
In relation to the query raised by the Deputy, I can advise that under the terms of my Department's Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
A minimum number of 10 eligible children residing in a distinct locality, as determined by Bus Éireann, is required before consideration may be given to the establishment or retention of school transport services, provided this can be done within reasonable cost limits.
Bus Éireann has advised that, to date, the number of applicants for school transport, to the school in question, for the 2015/16 school year has fallen below the minimum number required to retain the existing service.
Families of eligible children, for whom there is no school transport service available, are eligible for the remote area grant towards the cost of making private transport arrangements.
268. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that have published their anti-bullying policy to the board of management, in accordance with the action plan on bullying; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29312/15]
View answerThe Action Plan on Bullying, which was published in January 2013, sets out my Department's approach to tackling bullying in schools. These actions focus on support for schools, teacher training, research and awareness raising and aim to ensure that all forms of bullying are addressed.
As part of the implementation of the Action Plan, new National Anti-Bullying Procedures for schools were published in September 2013. All Boards of Management are required to adopt and implement an anti-bullying policy that fully complies with the requirements of the procedures. A template anti-bullying policy which must be used by all schools for this purpose is included in the procedures.
The procedures are designed to give direction and guidance to school authorities and school personnel in preventing and tackling school-based bullying behaviour amongst its pupils. They include specific requirements in relation to the use of prevention and education strategies and the consistent investigation, follow up and recording of bullying behaviour.
A very important element of the new procedures to help ensure greater transparency for parents and pupils is the requirement for schools to publish their anti-bullying policy on the school's website and to provide it to the parents association. The procedures also include important new oversight arrangements that involve the School Principal reporting regularly to the Board of Management and a requirement for the Board to undertake an annual review of the school's anti-bullying policy and its implementation. Confirmation that the annual review has been completed must be provided to the parents association and published on the school website.
A clear picture of the implementation of the new procedures at school level will become available as part of my Department's inspection work. Where the Inspectorate encounters non-compliance with the requirement to publish a policy in line with the new procedures, relevant findings will be included in published WSE inspection reports.
In addition to requiring schools to publish their policy on the school website, the procedures also require that the school's anti bullying policy must be made available to the school's Parents' Association. In that regard, in any school which has not done this, Parents Associations can raise this issue directly with their school Board of Management.
269. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline the request for extra special needs assistants she and her Department have received from a special school (details supplied) in County Cork; the allocation the school has now received; if the school is satisfied with its allocation for 2015-2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29316/15]
View answer270. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she or her Department have received a request for a special needs assistant for a pupil (details supplied) who has many challenging behaviours, as well as autism, and who is attending a school in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29317/15]
View answer271. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the justification for allocating only two new special needs assistants for 12 children in a special school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29318/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 269 to 271, inclusive, together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs.
The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
Once allocated, the deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2015/16 school year by 18th March 2015. The NCSE also continued to accept applications after this date in recognition that enrolments may not have been completed or where assessments were not completed.
The NCSE has now published details of SNA allocations for schools for September 2015 on its website.
The NCSE has confirmed to my Department that the SNA allocation for the school in question for the 2015/16 school year provides a sufficient level of support to cater for the care needs of all qualifying children in the context of the applications received for 2015/16.
Details of the manner in which a school or parent may appeal the level of SNA or resource teaching allocation which has been made to support a child in school, to the NCSE, is set out at www.ncse.ie.
All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, while Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.
272. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of requests for the allocation of special needs assistant that were denied, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29319/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that I announced last week that I had secured Government approval for an additional 610 Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts which may be made available for allocation to schools to support children with special educational needs with assessed care needs.
From the beginning of September, there will be 11,820 whole time equivalent SNA posts available in schools to support children with special educational needs with assessed care needs. This is the highest level of SNA allocation that we have ever had and builds on the increases of 365 additional SNA posts provided for in last year's budget announcement and the 390 additional SNA posts announced in December 2013. In total there has been an increase of 11.7% in SNA posts available for allocation to schools since this Government came to office.
These extra posts will ensure that the Government's policy of ensuring that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support.
I wish to advise the Deputy also that the National Council for Special Education(NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating SNA support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school.
The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support which are set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2015/16 school year by 18th March 2015. The NCSE also continued to accept applications after this date in recognition that enrolments may not have been completed or where assessments were not completed.
The NCSE has now published details of SNA allocations for schools for September 2015 on its website.
As the Deputy's question relates to the consideration of applications for SNA support by the NCSEI will arrange to have his question referred to the NCSE for their consideration and direct reply to the Deputy.
273. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school amalgamation (details supplied) in County Kerry; if the matter will be progressed as a matter of urgency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29321/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that the schools in question approached the Department in 2013 with an amalgamation proposal that entailed a level of funding commensurate with a major capital extension project. In view of the need to prioritise the available capital funding to meet both existing and emerging demographic need, it was not possible to provide funding for the purpose sought. The school authorities were advised of this position.
Given the financial constraints of my Department, the school authorities were requested to prioritise the essential works that would be required to facilitate the proposed amalgamation and to submit these proposals with associated costs to my Department for consideration. These details are awaited. My Department has recently written to the schools' Patron relating to the general proposal and the matter can be considered further when a response to this correspondence is received.
274. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of reducing the student contribution fee by €250; and by €500. [29347/15]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware the Student Contribution is set to increase to €3,000 for the upcoming 2015/16 academic year. Students who qualify for grant assistance under my Department's Student Grant Scheme (50% Approx.) have the contribution paid for them.
There were some 129,300 students in receipt of free fees funding in the academic year 2013/14. Based on this figure the total cost of reducing the Student Contribution fee by €250 would be in the region of €32m; with a reduction of €500 costing approximately €65m.
275. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of amending the criteria for the Student Universal Support Ireland grant scheme to ensure students living further than 30 km from their college qualify for the non-adjacent rate of grant payment. [29348/15]
View answerIn order to carry out the exercise requested by the Deputy, related to the estimated cost of reducing the qualifying distance for the non-adjacent rate of grant from 45km to 30km, we would need to establish how many students would come within the ranges put forward by the Deputy. The Deputy will appreciate that the percentage split between adjacent and non-adjacent can fluctuate from one year to another as some students graduate and new applicants come into grant. It is, therefore, difficult to quantify the cost of amending the criteria for eligibility, for the award of the non-adjacent rate of grant, to 30 kilometres due to the fact that each individual's circumstances are different and any impact would affect an unknown cohort of new applicants applying to SUSI at some future date. Hence the Deputy will appreciate that the information requested by the Deputy is not readily available.
276. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of applications under the Student Universal Support Ireland grant scheme that have been awarded but not paid in this and in previous academic years; and the number of outstanding applications to be decided on during those years. [29349/15]
View answerI am informed by SUSI that they are fully up to date with payment of all awarded grants that can be paid for all academic years. Awarded grants not paid to date are due to the following reasons:
- Awaiting confirmation and attendance details from the college;
- Awaiting students to provide their bank details;
- Students having deferred their college place or withdrawing from college.
I am also advised by SUSI that all applications for academic years 2012/13 and 2013/14 have had final decisions from SUSI.
As at 14th July 2015, SUSI has received circa 115,000 applications for the 2014/15 academic year, 40 of these applications have yet to be finalised. Of these, SUSI is awaiting documentation from the applicant in 28 cases, with the remaining 12 cases currently being reviewed by SUSI. The majority of these cases have already received a decision from SUSI and are currently the subject of an appeal/internal review. A small number of cases are awaiting a final decision due to the exceptional nature of the case or where a late application has been made.
