Tuesday, 19 Jan 2016

Written Answers Nos. 419-434

School Funding

Questions (419, 422)

Pat Breen

Question:

419. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide funding for a project (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2053/16]

Timmy Dooley

Question:

422. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Education and Skills is she will look favourably on an application for a grant for a general practitioner room for a school, the population of which has doubled in recent years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2121/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I propose to take Questions Nos. 419 and 422 together.

I can confirm that my Department has received an application for the provision of a General Purpose Room from the school in question.

I wish to advise the Deputy that due to the competing demands on my Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise available funding towards the provision of essential classroom accommodation, it is not possible at this point to provide an indicative timeframe for the provision of funding for the facility sought.

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department recently sanctioned a major capital project at the school comprising eight additional classrooms to meet the school's immediate accommodation needs. My Department provided in excess of €1.2m for the project, which was completed last November.

Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board

Questions (420)

Clare Daly

Question:

420. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of funds distributed by Caranua, by heading and by the number of persons in 2015; and the amount of funds remaining to be distributed. [2058/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

Caranua is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 to oversee the use of the cash contributions of up to €110 million, pledged by the religious congregations, to support the needs of survivors of institutional child abuse. Caranua provides regular updates on its website (www.caranua.ie) in regard to the number of applications received, the amounts expended by it and related matters. Figures in relation to the year to 30 November 2015 may be accessed on that website and end December figures will be published in due course. Full details regarding Caranua's expenditure will be set out in the organisation's accounts which are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In accordance with the relevant legislative provisions, Caranua's audited annual accounts will be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas in the normal manner.

I am advised that to date Caranua has incurred expenditure totalling some €43 million, and accordingly it has a further €67 million available to it to meet future expenditure needs.

Summer Works Scheme Applications

Questions (421)

Eric J. Byrne

Question:

421. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a school (details supplied) in Dublin 8; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2099/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I wish to advise the Deputy that the school in question has submitted an application for funding for toilet improvement works under the current Summer Works Scheme. Commensurate with the level of funding available for the Summer Works Scheme, applications including that from the school referred to by the Deputy will be assessed on a top down basis in accordance with the prioritisation criteria outlined in the governing Circular Letter for the Scheme. This Circular Letter (0055/2015), is available on my Department's website www.education.ie. It is my intention to publish a list of successful applicants at the end of February/early March 2016.

My Department has no application from the school in question in respect of any additional accommodation. The school received the Minor Works Grant for 2015/2016 which issued last November and this grant has been issued since 1997 to primary schools with the exception of the 2012/2013 school year. The rates of the grant which are unchanged since 2006 are a basic grant of €5,500 plus a per pupil rate of €18.50.

I can inform the Deputy that in 2015 a total of 80% of the capital outturn on the school sector was expended on the provision of permanent school places to accommodate the growing school population. The balance was expended on the Summer Works Scheme, Emergency Works, the Minor Works Grant, furniture and equipment provision and other smaller programmes.

Question No. 422 answered with Question No. 419.

Departmental Staff

Questions (423)

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The Pension Unit of my Department is responsible for policy, regulatory, advice and operational functions relating to the pensions of staff within the education sector.

Within this work, priority is given to processing retirement benefits (lump sum payments and fortnightly pensions) for teachers and non-teaching staff who are scheduled to retire and to spouses/children of deceased members. When the person to whom the Deputy refers first sought a pension statement, end of August 2015, it coincided with the busiest period in the pension calendar - between the end of the school year and the calendar year.

In addition each year the Pension Unit provides pension statements to more than 2,000 members and again priority is afforded to those who indicate that they intend to retire in the coming school year.

As the person in question indicated she was considering retirement, she was afforded priority within this caseload and as a result the process of preparing her statement commenced once all of the retirement cases had been completed and issued to her as soon as possible after that. The Pension Unit regrets this delay and any inconvenience caused to the person concerned.

Schools Building Projects Status

Questions (424)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

424. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a new building for a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; if she will ensure works commence on this building in 2016, given the poor condition and state of repair of the existing accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2155/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

As the Deputy is aware, the project for the school referred to, is included in the 6 Year Construction Programme that I announced on 17 November last, and is listed to proceed to tender and construction in the period 2019-21.

My Department will be in contact with the school authorities in the near future regarding the next steps to be taken to progress the school project into the architectural planning process.

Third Level Institutions

Questions (425, 426, 427)

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

425. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number and names of agencies that are used to recruit foreign students by the third level sector; the gross cost to the State of using these agencies including value added tax for each of the past five years; the number of these agencies based here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2159/16]

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

426. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the rules or guidelines governing spending by third level institutions on external agencies used to recruit foreign students and the role of the Office of Government Procurement, in terms of professional services, in this process. [2160/16]

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

427. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if an accreditation process is in place for the agencies used to recruit foreign students to third level institutions; the persons responsible for carrying out supplier reviews, approving legal contracts, and for ensuring student aftercare is at an acceptable standard. [2161/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I propose to take Questions Nos. 425 to 427, inclusive, together. My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding to the institutions and the internal disbursement of funding is then a matter for the individual institution and my Department has no role in the day to day operational affairs of the institutions.

Higher education institutions are bound by public procurement procedures in relation to its spending, including that on any external agencies used for the recruitment of foreign students. The tender process and legal arrangements are a matter for the individual institutions as autonomous bodies. The aftercare of international students is also a matter for the individual institution.

Details in respect of the number and names of agencies used to recruit foreign students in the higher education sector, including the cost and number of agencies based here, are not available in my Department. My officials have requested the HEA to seek to compile this information from the institutions and I will arrange for the information to be sent to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements

Questions (428)

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

428. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of concerns raised by teaching staff regarding dual standards in the admissions process for students applying through the Central Applications Office and external applications. [2162/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The responsibility for managing access to third level places rests with the Central Applications Office (CAO) and the third level institutions generally.

The higher education institutions have delegated to the CAO the task of processing applications to their first year undergraduate courses. However, the participating institutions retain the function of making decisions on admissions. Neither my Department nor the Higher Education Authority has any role to play in relation to the operation of the CAO or the admissions policies of third level institutions.

Special Educational Needs Staff

Questions (429)

Barry Cowen

Question:

429. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Education and Skills why a person (details supplied) in County Offaly has not received a response to an application under a National Council for Special Education scheme; what is an acceptable timeframe to process such applications, given that this person is attending school with parents and cannot be supported by a teacher outside of the classroom as there is no teacher available, and that the parents have received no information from her Department as to what stage the application is at; why the parents have not received this; and when the school will be allocated the resource hours to allow this pupil to follow the proposed reintegration place developed by the National Educational Psychological Service, the person's parents and the school. [2166/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

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, while the criteria for the allocation of resource teaching support is set out in DES Circular 02/05.

All schools were asked to apply for SNA or resource teaching 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 published details of SNA allocations for schools for the current school year on its website.

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.

Details of the manner in which a school, or parent, may appeal an SNA allocation decision is also available at www.ncse.ie

As the question raised by the Deputy relates to an application for support for an individual child, I have arranged for this question to be forwarded to the NCSE for direct reply to the Deputy.

Residential Institutions

Questions (430)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

430. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the Education Finance Board; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2181/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The Education Finance Board (EFB) was financed by the €12.7 million contribution provided by the religious congregations under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement. It allowed for educational support for former residents and their families. The fund was exhausted in 2011 and the investment account used by the EFB was closed and the Board dissolved. The legislation which subsequently established the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund does not permit Caranua to take on any of the functions conferred on the dissolved EFB. This legislation (the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012) sets out the approved services that can be funded. These services include an educational service but only for former residents, not for their families.

Funding is no longer available for educational courses for relatives of former residents.

Schools Building Projects Status

Questions (431)

Anthony Lawlor

Question:

431. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the building programme for the new community college in Naas, County Kildare; at what stage is the planning process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2185/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The project to which the Deputy refers is being delivered by the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). It is at stage 2A (developed sketch scheme) of the design process.

An examination of the design team's stage 2A submission was recently completed in the Department and the Department has since been in contact with the KWETB to make arrangements for the normal meeting with it and its design team to discuss the outcome of this examination.

Weight of Schoolbags

Questions (432)

Michael McGrath

Question:

432. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the weight of schoolbags for primary and secondary school pupils; if their weight could cause injury to pupils; the action she has taken or will take to address this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2186/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The report of the Working Group on the Weight of School Bags recognised that many of the solutions to this issue belong at local school level and made various recommendations in this regard, such as optimum use of storage facilities, developing pupil organisation skills and timetabling.

My Department issued circulars to all primary and post-primary schools in 2005 to highlight the potential health hazard of overweight schoolbags and to outline a range of local measures that could be put in place to help alleviate the problem.

The circulars referred to the recommendations of the report. It is a matter for each individual school to determine which particular measures are most suited to its individual circumstances and to how the school concerned organises teaching and learning.

The circulars (PC 13/05 and M35/05) and the report of the Working Group on the Weight of School Bags are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

Special Educational Needs Staff

Questions (433)

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

433. Deputy Pat Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of teachers and special needs assistants employed in primary and post-primary schools in the 2010-11 school year and in the 2015-16 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2217/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I wish to advise the Deputy that the number of Special Needs Assistants allocated to primary and post-primary schools for the 2010/11 school year was 10,543 as at May 2011. In 2015, 11,940 SNAs were available for allocation to primary and secondary schools, of which 11,820 were initially allocated in September 2015.

The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools, including details of teacher numbers for the 2010/11 school year which can be accessed through the following link: http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Key-Statistics-2010-2011.pdf

The most recent published information for teacher numbers relates to the 2014/15 school year and this can be accessed through the following link: http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Key-Statistics/Key-Statistics-2014-2015.pdf.

Data for the current 2015/16 school year, including teacher numbers, will be published when the national school annual census has been processed later in the current school year.

Teachers' Remuneration

Questions (434)

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

434. Deputy Pat Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary teachers who are paid a qualification allowance at the minimum pass primary degree rate; the number who are not being paid a qualification allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2218/16]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

A Qualification Allowance in respect of a Pass Primary Degree is paid to 7,199 Primary Teachers.

Qualification allowances were abolished for teachers appointed after the 1 February 2012. The full details are outlined in Circular 8/2013 which can be accessed on my Department website. Due to other priority commitments at present it is not possible to obtain data in relation to the number of teachers not being paid a qualification allowance.