Written Answers Nos. 160-164
160. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will examine the standard of facilities in a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3750/17]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has no record of receiving an application for major capital works from the school in question. Any application received will be considered and a response will be conveyed to the school authority subsequently.
161. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria that is used in means testing applicants for grants and assistance under the secondary education committee fund; the different level of grants potentially awarded to applicants and other relevant rules related to the fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3764/17]
View answer181. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills if, in view of the difficulty being experienced by many parents hoping to access funding from the secondary education committee, which is means tested, he will outline the guidelines for the scheme; the level of a grant available to aid a person whose parents are on a certain income; the threshold for that income; the level of the grant to that person; the way in which funds are dispensed; the amount involved; the number of persons accessing the scheme; and the guidelines used to determine if a child is in need of the funds. [3964/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 161 and 181 together.
My Department will arrange for the issues raised by the Deputies to be brought to the attention of the Secondary Education Committee.
With regard to the fee-charging Protestant schools, an arrangement exists whereby funding is provided by my Department to the Secondary Education Committee, an organisation run by the churches involved in managing the Protestant secondary schools.
The Secondary Education Committee then disburses funds to the Protestant fee-charging schools on behalf of pupils who would otherwise have difficulty with the cost of fees and who, in the absence of such financial support, would be unable to attend a second level school of a reformed church or Protestant ethos. Funding currently amounts to €6.75 million annually. This fund ensures that necessitous Protestant children can attend a school of their choice.
The overall process used by the Secondary Education Committee involves the following:
- Submission of a completed application to the Secondary Education Committee. Guidance is provided to parents in relation to the application process.
- The child must be a verified member of a recognised Protestant religion
- The child must be planning to attend a school included in block grant scheme
- Parents/guardians are means tested as part of the application process
- Grants are paid at different levels and not as a proportion of fees charged.
- Boarding grant is only available if child lives more than 30km from school.
Application Procedure:
- Application forms are sent in late October annually to schools
- Application forms are forwarded to parents
- Religion criteria is verified by a recognised clergy person
- Financial information and supporting documents (e.g. P60 tax form) is submitted to the Secondary Education Committee with the application form.
- Closing date for receipt of completed applications is 28th February.
- Applications are means tested and fully assessed by end of March
- Secondary Education Committee Board decides amount for each grant level in early April and provisional notification is issued thereafter to applicants
- Approved applications are offered by mid-May
- Grant funds accepted are paid directly to schools in 3 term payments.
Financial Criteria:
The means test establishes whether applicants are in need of financial assistance to afford to send their child to a secondary school that accords with their religious ethos. It also assesses the level of assistance needed. The threshold for the allocation of funding is calculated on an annual basis and is derived from a calculation based on the total number of eligible applications in relation to the available funds.
For example, the level and number of grants awarded in 2016/17 school year was as follows:
|
Day Grants |
Boarding Grants |
|
|
No. of Grants awarded |
1,377 |
867 |
|
Level of Grants awarded |
€261 - €2,682 |
€957 - €7,629 |
162. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will change the terms under which the State Claims Agency is allowed to make ex gratia payments to the victims of school child sexual abuse, in view of the fact that these terms will preclude the majority of such victims from claiming any compensation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3765/17]
View answerThe State Claims Agency (SCA) manages school child sexual abuse litigation being taken against the State. In December 2014, the Government authorised the SCA to offer “out of court” settlements to persons taking cases of school child sexual abuse against the State where their cases come within the terms of the ECtHR judgment in the Louise O'Keeffe case and are not statute barred.
In July 2015, the Government agreed that it would respond to those who instituted legal proceedings in relation to school child sexual abuse but had discontinued their cases by offering ex gratia payments. It was decided that such payments would be offered to those persons whose cases were not statute barred prior to their proceedings being discontinued and where the person can demonstrate that their circumstances involved sexual abuse of a school child by a primary or post-primary school employee in respect of whom there was a prior complaint of sexual abuse to a school authority (including an authority of a school in which the employee had previously worked) prior to the issue of the Department of Education guidelines to primary and post-primary schools in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
For the purposes of the settlement of litigation and the Government’s ex gratia scheme, there is no strict interpretation as to what constitutes a “prior complaint.” The State must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that there was a prior complaint but the State does not insist on a strict evidential standard in assessing the material put forward by an applicant. A holistic analysis of the case is undertaken and a flexible approach is adopted.
In assessing whether a settlement will be offered or whether an applicant comes within the ex gratia scheme, the State will consider instances of abuse which occurred in both primary and post-primary schools.
In assessing a case or application, the State works on the basis that a prior complaint includes not only complaints made to teachers but also complaints made to any person(s) in authority in a school.
The conditions attached to the ex-Gratia scheme have been agreed by Government and allow for the State Claims Agency to make settlement offers where the claims come within the terms of the ECtHR Judgement and are not statute barred.
I don't consider it necessary to revisit the terms of the scheme.
163. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons that applied for the pilot support scheme 2016 (details supplied); the number of persons that were successful in their application for the pilot support scheme 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3791/17]
View answer15 Pilot Support Scheme applications were received for the 2016/17 academic year with 2 qualifying for support.
Most applicants who did not qualify for support, failed to qualify under two or more criteria. The reasons why applicants did not qualify for a support were as follows:
- Did not have five years in the Irish Education system;
- Did not meet the criteria for permission to reside under the scheme;
- Did not complete the Leaving Certificate;
- Did not have residence in Ireland for five years prior to their application to the pilot scheme; and
- Application received after the closing date of 4th November 2016.
164. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the new DEIS programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3798/17]
View answerA process to review the DEIS Programme has recently been completed and it is my intention to publish a new Action Plan for Educational Inclusion in the coming weeks.
The review process has looked comprehensively at all aspects of DEIS, including the range and impact of different elements of the School Support Programme, the potential for innovation within and between schools and its scope for increased integration of services provided by other Departments and Agencies, in order to improve effectiveness
The development of a new assessment framework using centrally held CSO and DES data for the identification of schools for inclusion in a new Programme is also included in the review process. The number of schools to be included in the programme will be determined by this proposed new assessment framework, which will assess all schools in the country. Schools are not required to make an application for assessment as the methodology being developed involves the use of centrally held data already available to my Department.
A series of pilot schemes aimed at introducing measures shown to work well in improving results for disadvantaged students will be introduced. Targeted measures to be included are, School Leadership, School networking/clustering, teaching methodologies, integration of all supports within communities, greater use of HSCL services.
Implementation of actions arising from the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion will begin in the 2017/18 school year, and will be a continuing theme in our wider Annual Action Plan for Education.
