Written Answers Nos. 295 - 312
295. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if accommodation can be made to allow for a person (details supplied) to be collected from their home for the purposes of school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27294/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools annually throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres.
Bus Éireann has advised that the route of this service for the 2016/17 school year has been reviewed in the reorganisation of services and the child in question is being accommodated with a home collection.
296. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if pupils from Northern Ireland who have free medical cover can be deemed as eligible children for school transport on the same basis as medical card holders in cases where the child concerned is attending the nearest school; if he will issue clarification on the eligibility of children in Northern Ireland for free school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27295/16]
View answer297. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the school transport application of a person (details supplied) who lives in Northern Ireland and is attending his nearest Gaelscoil and had full medical cover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27296/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 296 and 297 together.
School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
My Department is responsible for the provision of school transport within this jurisdiction.
In general, children are eligible for school transport if they are attending their nearest school and satisfy the requisite distance criteria.
Traditionally a small number of children travelling from Northern Ireland have been facilitated with concessionary school transport to schools in this jurisdiction. Under the terms of the Scheme, this concessionary transport is dependent on the availability of spare seats, subject to a charge, even if the child holds a valid medical card and the children must make their own way to a pick up point in this jurisdiction.
298. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review the school transport routes B9004 from Aughrim to Arklow and route No. 70810H from Rathdrum to Avondale with a view to increasing the capacity of the service in order to accommodate students who wish to avail of the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27297/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Bus Éireann is responsible for the procurement of contractors to provide transport services under the School Transport Scheme. Routes, bus sizes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of children who are eligible for school transport only.
The terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.
299. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if there is a policy in place within the school transport system which prohibits the bus provider from providing a bigger bus even where there is demand for the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27298/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
Bus Éireann which operates the School Transport Scheme on behalf of my Department is responsible for the procurement of contractors to provide transport services under the School Transport Scheme. Routes, bus sizes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of children who are eligible for school transport only.
300. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if there is a case whereby a school transport bus provider has been refused permission to increase the bus size on a transport route where students who previously used that route have been denied school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27299/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
Bus Éireann which operates the School Transport Scheme on behalf of my Department is responsible for the procurement of contractors to provide transport services under the School Transport Scheme. Routes, bus sizes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of children who are eligible for school transport only.
301. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has reviewed the school transport situation in County Sligo whereby a number of students travelling to schools (details supplied) have been refused school transport; his plans to rectify the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27300/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
In general, children are eligible for school transport if they meet the distance criterion and are attending their nearest school.
Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of terms and conditions that are detailed in the scheme. The availability of concessionary transport may vary from year to year.
Bus Éireann is responsible for the procurement of contractors to provide transport services under the School Transport Scheme. Routes, bus sizes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of children who are eligible for school transport only.
The closing date for receipt of payments for school transport was 29th July 2016. Children for whom late payments are received cannot be guaranteed a seat on a school transport service.
Seats for concessionary applicants are allocated after all eligible children who make payments on time have been accommodated on school transport services. This exercise normally takes place after the closing date for receipt of payments. Where seats are limited a random selection process is used.
The terms of the Scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.
302. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reasons a school transport bus service (details supplied) has been downsized from a 33-seater to a 24-seater; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27301/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools annually throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres.
Bus Éireann is responsible for the procurement of contractors to provide transport services under the School Transport Scheme. Routes, bus sizes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of children who are eligible for school transport only.
The Programme for Government commits to review the concessionary charges and rules element of the School Transport Scheme prior to Budget 2017.
Pending this review, there was no planned programme of downsizing school buses in the current school year. There were route changes and variations in line with normal operational decisions that occur from year to year, and any impacts in terms of increases or decreases of available places nationally was marginal, in line with what occurs every year.
It is important to point out that there has been no impact on children who are eligible for school transport.
304. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has reviewed the school transport situation in east Cork where a number of children have been refused school transport; his plans to rectify the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27303/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools annually throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres.
Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes. Bus Éireann endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service in the context of the Scheme nationally.
The Programme for Government commits to review the concessionary charges and rules element of the School Transport Scheme prior to Budget 2017.
Pending this review, there was no planned programme of downsizing school buses in the current school year. There were route changes and variations in line with normal operational decisions that occur from year to year, and any impacts in terms of increases or decreases of available places nationally was marginal, in line with what occurs every year.
It is important to point out that there has been no impact on children who are eligible for school transport.
Bus Éireann has advised that there has been no downsizing of school transport vehicles in the East Cork area.
305. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has reviewed the school transport situation (details supplied); if steps will be taken to rectify the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27304/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. As the Deputy is aware, under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. In general children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of terms and conditions that are detailed in the scheme. The availability of concessionary transport may vary from year to year and is not available on public scheduled services.
While it is the prerogative of parents to send their children to the school of their choice, eligibility for school transport at post primary level is to the nearest education centre/school.
The terms of the scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.
306. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the total cost of restoring the pre-2011 criteria of eligibility for school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27305/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
Between 2010 and 2014 the changes recommended in the Value for Money Review of the Scheme contributed to a reduction of some €9m in the overall cost of school transport provision.
307. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a person who has not attained a level 8 degree heretofore would be eligible for the free fees initiative for a level 8 degree programme if they go to university after the completion of a Springboard programme, up to and including Level 8; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27326/16]
View answerThe position is that under my Department's free fees schemes students are not eligible for tuition fee funding where they are pursuing a second undergraduate course of study. This rule applies to all students and is regardless of whether or not they received exchequer funding for their first course of study.
Tax relief at the standard rate of tax may be claimed in respect of tuition fees paid for approved courses at approved colleges of higher education. Details in relation to this relief are available from the Revenue Commissioners at www.revenue.ie.
308. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if school building redevelopments that were previously due to commence in 2016 as part of the capital programme and have now been postponed will necessitate school boards of management having to re-engage their design teams to update previously agreed tender documents to bring them into line with changes to public works contracts that were introduced in 2016, as such a requirement will cause an additional delay in progression of school rebuilding projects to tender stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27327/16]
View answerA review of the Public Works Contracts commenced in December 2013 during the terms of office of Minister Ruairi Quinn. Following engagement between the Office of Government Procurement (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) and industry stakeholders, in December 2014 the Government Contracts Committee for Construction, (GCCC), published its Report on the Review of the Performance of the Public Works Contract. The report proposed 4 interim measures to amend the Public Works Contracts (PWCs) “In recognition of the changed market and to encourage more realistic pricing of public works projects…” Three of the four measures are proceeding and implementation procedures have now been issued by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP).
The three changes which all Government bodies are obliged to implement are:
1. Reducing the level of risk currently being transferred by making the bill of quantities the primary reference document for tender purposes on employer-designed contracts.
2. Direct tendering of specialist works packages (e.g. Mechanical, Electrical and Lift installations) where specialist works make up a significant proportion of the overall project value or where they have a significant impact on the long term performance of the project.
3. The inclusion of informal dispute resolution methods to reduce the volume of disputes that are currently being referred to the formal procedures prescribed in the contract.
In August of this year the Department published Guidance for design teams in the form of Design Team Procedures – Practice Note 1 which is available on the Departments website.
Schools and their design teams have been informed that they will now need to assess what needs to be done to bring their project to a tender ready stage in accordance with these changes to the Public Works Contracts.
When the design team has identified what exactly needs to be updated for their particular project they have been asked to submit a fee proposal to the Department for carrying out this work.
Once this work is completed and the Design team provide confirmation of same the Department will then revert regarding progression of the project.
The Department will carefully manage this process with a view to minimising the risk of any delays.
309. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which it is proposed to restore the school transport services previously available to the children in the Johnstownbridge and Kilshanroe areas of north Kildare in view of the extreme hardship caused to children and their parents and keeping in mind that no action was to be taken until after a review of the school transport system; his views on the need to take immediate steps to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27330/16]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. In general, children are eligible for school transport if they are attending their nearest school and satisfy the requisite distance criteria. Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis only. The Programme for Government commits to review the concessionary charges and rules element of the School Transport Scheme prior to Budget 2017. Pending this review, there was no planned programme of downsizing school buses in the current school year. There were route changes and variations in line with normal operational decisions that occur from year to year, and any impacts in terms of increases or decreases of available places nationally was marginal, in line with what occurs every year. It is important to point out that there has been no impact on children who are eligible for school transport.
310. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of English as an additional language, EAL, posts in each county for each school year since 2012-13, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27471/16]
View answerThe level of extra teaching support provided in respect of language support to schools is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and the associated levels of those pupils' language proficiency.
Reforms introduced in the 2012/13 school year created a single simplified allocation process for both learning and language support. At primary level, learning/language support hours are allocated on the basis of mainstream classroom teaching posts in the school. Schools have autonomy to deploy this resource between learning support and language support depending on the specific needs of the school. The new arrangements also provided for additional permanent teaching posts to be given to schools with a high concentration of pupils that require language support.
On the post primary side, with effect from the 2012/13 school year, learning support and language support has been combined into a single allocation process. Each school with an enrolment of less than 600 recognised pupils (excluding pupils on PLC Programmes) receives an allocation of .9 of a post. Schools with an enrolment of 600 pupils or more receive an allocation of 1.4 whole time equivalent posts (wtes).
In addition, schools which had significant concentrations of pupils that required language support in the 2011/12 school year were allocated 0.5 or 1 permanent EAL post with effect from the 2012/13 school year. These EAL posts have been retained by the schools in the current school year.
Further additional temporary EAL support is also provided, as necessary, to schools that have high concentrations of pupils that require language (EAL) support. At primary level, these allocations are made on the basis of appeals by schools to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board and at post-primary level to the Post Primary Staffing Appeals Board.
I will arrange for the information sought by the Deputy in relation to the number of EAL posts to be forwarded to her separately.
311. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of abolishing all third-level education fees, including registration and tuition. [27487/16]
View answerBased on the number of students that qualified for free fees funding in the academic year 2014/15 (and were therefore liable to pay the Student Contribution), and taking into account overall expected increases in student numbers, it is estimated that the net cost to my Department of abolishing the Student Contribution for the 2017/18 academic year would be €206.56m. This includes the resulting saving to my Department's Student Grant Scheme budget.
It should be noted that under my Department's free fees schemes, funding of some €260m is provided annually in relation to tuition fee funding for over 130,000 students who qualify for funding.
312. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of resourcing special needs in primary schools on an individualised basis without any caps on hours or staff. [27488/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that funding for special education provision in 2016 will amount to some €1.5 billion, which is equivalent to over 17% of the gross overall current allocation for education and training. It has increased by 10% in the past two years.
The investment which is being made to support children with special educational needs is an area of spending which has been prioritised above most other areas by this Government.
The policy of my Department is that children with special educational needs should be included where possible and appropriate in mainstream placements with additional supports provided. In circumstances where children with special educational need require more specialised interventions, special school or special class places are also available.
Children, therefore, have a number of placement options including mainstream placement with support, placement in a special class in a mainstream school or placement in a special class in a special school.
It should be noted that we now have the highest level of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) and Resource Teaching support that we have ever had, as the number of posts which may be allocated to schools in order to support valid applications for children for this provision, in accordance with my Department's criteria, has been increased annually in recent years to meet the actual demand from schools.
The Deputy will be aware that I recently announced 12,900 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) will be available for allocation to primary and secondary schools for the 2016/17 school year, which is 860 more posts, or a 7% increase, in the number of posts available last year.
In total the number of SNA posts available has increased by almost 22%, from 10,575 posts available in 2011.
The number of resource teaching posts which may be allocated to schools has also increased again this year.
In May of this year, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocated 7,015 Resource Teaching posts to mainstream schools for September 2016, which is an increase of approximately 9% over the number allocated at September 2015.
In total, 7,452 resource teacher posts will be available for allocation to schools for 2016/17, which represents an increase of 41%, from 5265 posts available in 2011.
In addition, approximately 150 new Special Classes will be opened for the 2016/17 school year, which means there will be over 1,150 special classes in place, compared to 548 special classes in 2011.
125 special schools also provide specialist education for those pupils who need it and additional staffing is provided for special schools annually to support additional enrolments.
The provision which is being made ensures that children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education and be supported in a manner appropriate to their needs.
Funding for the provision of special educational needs supports has been increased annually in recent years to meet the demand form schools, to support the assessed needs of children with individual special educational needs, in accordance with my Departments allocation criteria.
I am therefore satisfied that the provision which is being made in 2016, of approximately €1.5 billion, will be sufficient to meet demand from schools in 2016, and that this provision has not been curtailed by a cap on hours and staff, given the increases in SNA and resource teaching staff which have been provided to meet actual demand this year.
I can also confirm that this Government will continue to ensure that the supports required to ensure that all children with special educational needs can continue to participate in education will be provided.
