School Transport Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 April 2016

Thursday, 14 April 2016

Questions (683)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

683. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 769 of 13 January 2016 and the changes to the primary school transport scheme for a school (details supplied) in County Cork, the number of children carried; the amount her Department paid to Bus Éireann; the average cost per child carried; the percentage increase or decrease per child carried, on a year by year basis; the applicable number of children, seven or ten, in the minimum number of eligible children required to establish or to retain a service; the relevant charges for eligible children; the number of current services for the year; the number of terminated services from the previous year; and the number of new services introduced, in each case for the entire school transport schemes, with columns for children carried, for each of the financial years 2010 to 2015, in tabular form. [6521/16]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

The information requested by the Deputy is outlined below.

1. The total number of children carried from 2010 to 2015 was as follows:

School Year	Total Pupils
2010	123993
2011	113015
2012	112463
2013	114063
2014	112577
2015	113892

2. The amount paid by the Department on the annual Statement of Account from 2010 to 2014 was as follows:

Account 2014	Account 2013	Account 2012	Account 2011	Account 2010
€000	€000	€000	€000	€000
150,467	149,825	149,477	151,804	154,025

3. The Statement of Account for 2015 will be available shortly. The average cost per Child Week from 2010 to 2014, from which the percentage increase may be calculated, was as follows:

PRIMARY	-	Post Primary
Cost per pupil per week (€)	Year	Cost Per Pupil Per Week
48.35	2010	29.15
52.25	2011	29.15
56.87	2012	30.27
58.86	2013	31.85
60.35	2014	35.97

4. The Minimum Number of Eligible Children required for service retention or establishment was seven eligible children until the introduction of the revised schemes in 2011/12 when the threshold was increased to ten eligible children.

The number of services withdrawn under the Minimum Number rule from 2010 to 2015 was as follows:

Year	Number of Services Withdrawn Under Minimum Numbers
2010	7
2011	85
2012	12
2013	20
2014	28
2015	43

5. The relevant charges for eligible children are as follows:

Year	Post Primary Eligible	Primary Eligible	Primary Family Maximum Payment	Post Primary Family Maximum Payment
2010	€300.00	€0.00	€650.00	€650.00
2011	€300.00	€50.00	€110.00	€650.00
2012	€350.00	€100.00	€220.00	€650.00
2013	€350.00	€100.00	€220.00	€650.00
2014	€350.00	€100.00	€220.00	€650.00
2015	€350.00	€100.00	€220.00	€650.00

6. The current total for the number of services at the end of 2015 was 6,786 services. The number of new services introduced between 2010 and 2015 was as follows:

Year	New Services
2010	97
2011	152
2012	196
2013	218
2014	274
2015	318