Thursday, 12 Jul 2018

Written Answers Nos. 161-173

Schools Building Projects Data

Questions (161)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

161. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of a building (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31884/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The school referred to by the Deputy has recently been authorised to proceed to tender for the appointment of a Building Contractor.  Subject to no issues arising during the tender process it is envisaged that construction should commence in quarter 1 2019.

School Accommodation Provision

Questions (162)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

162. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the proposed special school that will merge schools (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31885/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

As the Deputy is aware, a project to provide permanent accommodation for the schools in question is included on my Department's Capital Programme.  The project will provide for two independent schools co-located in a campus arrangement.

Officials in my Department are liaising with officials in the relevant local authority in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the acquisition of a suitable site to facilitate the building project.  The proposed location for the schools, on the Cement Road in Drogheda, has been agreed and the acquisition of this property is at conveyancing stage.

Subsequent to the completion of the site acquisition process, subject to no issues arising, the architectural planning process to deliver the new schools will then be initiated.

School Management

Questions (163)

Éamon Ó Cuív

Question:

163. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to provide extra support for teaching principals in primary schools in view of the explosion of responsibilities, reports and paper work that have to be handled by teaching principals at present and the long hours involved in dealing with this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31931/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

Recently published Circular 40/2018 is available on the Department’s website, which outlines the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in a school year in order to assist them fulfilling their principal duties. Under these arrangements my Department pays for a substitute teacher to be employed by a school to facilitate administrative functions to be undertaken by the teaching principal.

Building on measures in previous budgets to enhance school leadership, Budget 2018 made €0.4 million available to fund almost 4600 additional release days for teaching principals in primary schools. This additional funding will see an increase in the number of release days available to teaching principals in the 2018/19 school year to 17, 23 or 29 days depending on the size of the school.

Budget 2017 allowed for the commencement of restoration of middle management posts as part of an agreed distributed leadership model and meant lifting the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts at primary and post-primary levels. This recognises the key role school leadership has in promoting a school environment which is welcoming, inclusive and accountable.

€2.75m was allocated in Budget 2017 to restore middle management positions i.e. the equivalent of approximately 1,300 middle management posts (Assistant Principal I and Assistant Principal II) at both Primary and Post-Primary. (2,600 in total)

Circular 63/2017 was issued by my Department in September 2017 which sets out a leadership and management framework for posts in recognised primary schools.  Flexibility in identifying and prioritising the evolving leadership and management needs of the school, and in assigning and re-assigning post holders to specific roles and responsibilities to meet the evolving needs of a school, is an essential feature of this school leadership model.

While the Principal is ultimately responsible to the Board of Management for the management and leadership of the school, the Deputy Principal also occupies a position of vital importance within the senior leadership team in each school. The Deputy Principal co-operates with the Principal in the fulfilment of the Principal's role and acts or deputises as the Principal in the Principal's absence.

In relation to the duties assigned to Assistant Principal posts, the Principal following consultation with staff, agree the schedule of duties as best meet the needs of the school. These duties are designed to reduce the workload of the Principal.

The selection and recruitment process is well under way in most of our primary schools and the majority of these new middle management posts will be filled in the current school year, including schools where the Principal is a "Teaching Principal".

I also recently announced an extension to the arrangements for schools with teaching principals to cluster their release days into full-time posts, with one teacher covering the release days of all the schools in the cluster.  Up to 50 principal release cluster posts are available to be put in place for the 2018/19 school year. This measure will assist teaching principals to more effectively plan their release days for the benefit of the school.

The Teacher Allocation section of my Department are currently processing these applications and schools are being notified as the cluster posts are approved. 

Any additional increase in the number of release days will be considered as part of the next annual budgetary process alongside the many other demands from the education sector.

Capital Expenditure Programme

Questions (164)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

164. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills the funding provided towards capital projects in counties Meath and Louth in 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018, by project name, location and cost in tabular form. [31988/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

Total capital funding under Subhead D3 - the building, equipment and furnishing of primary and post-primary schools expended in the period 1st January, 2016 to 30th June, 2018 in County Meath amounts to €69,495,632 and in County Louth amounts to €68,956,889.

Total capital funding under Subhead D4 - Building Grants and Capital Costs of Universities, Institute of Technologies and Other Designated institutes of Higher Education expended in the period 1st January, 2016 to 30th June, 2018 in County Louth amounts to €2,403,277.

Details of expenditure by project name is available on receipt of school names and roll numbers.

Details of all school capital works that have been funded by my Department may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie and this is updated on a monthly basis. 

Local Authority Funding

Questions (165)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

165. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills the applications submitted for funding and projects from Meath and Louth County Councils in 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018 for projects decided upon or in progress in tabular form. [32004/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The information sought by the Deputy is being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy shortly.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42.

I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 165 of 11th July 2018 in which you asked me provide details of the applications submitted for funding and projects from Meath and Louth County Councils in 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018 for projects decided upon or in progress.

In my reply, I had stated that the information sought is being compiled but would be forwarded to you shortly. I am now in a position to provide the information, as follows.

The only applications which are relevant to your query pertain to the student grant scheme. The student grant scheme is administered by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). Prior to SUSI, students attending third level who qualified for support were funded by their local authorities. Existing students who were funded this way at the time SUSI was set up remained with the local authorities. The local authorities continue to pay the maintenance and fees on behalf of these students, and apply to the Department of Education and Skills to have these funds repaid to them on a reconciliation form.

The following table outlines the requests by each County Council for 2016 and 2017. No requests have been made to date in 2018.

Funding Type	County Council	Year	Applications submitted	Amount of Funding
Higher Education Grants - Student Grant Scheme	Meath County Council	2016	2 Reconciliation forms submitted	€60,998
Higher Education Grants - Student Grant Scheme	Louth County Council	2016	2 Reconciliation forms submitted	€66,202
Higher Education Grants - Student Grant Scheme	Louth County Council	2017	2 Reconciliation forms submitted	€21,966

Capitation Grants

Questions (166)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

166. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he is taking to restore the full capitation grant for primary school pupils in view of the demands which are on teachers and parents to fundraise for basic running costs in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32056/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I recognise the need to improve capitation funding for schools having regard to the reductions that were necessary over recent years.

Restoring capitation funding as resources permit is one of the actions included in the Action Plan for Education and I remain committed to achieving this. However, I must be prudent in the context of ongoing budgetary pressures and prioritise where it is not possible to do everything that I would like to do in the education sector in any one year. In the last two budgets, I made provision for 6,000 extra teachers and 3,000 extra SNAs and over 3,000 new middle management posts.  These resources were allocated to improve the learning experience right across the sector, with a particular focus on children with special needs. 

The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2018 marked the second year of major reinvestment in the education sector, as we continue to implement the Action Plan for Education, which has the central aim to make the Irish Education and Training service the best in Europe within a decade.  In 2018, the budget for the Department of Education increased by €554 million to over €10 billion. Through budget 2017 and Budget 2018, we are now investing €1 billion more in education.

Improvements have been made for the restoration of grant funding that is used by schools to fund the salaries of ancillary staff.  The ancillary grant was increased by €6 in 2016, €5 in 2017 and €5 in 2018, in order to enable primary schools to implement the arbitration salary increase for grant funded school secretaries and caretakers and to also implement the restoration of salary for cleaners arising from the unwinding of FEMPI legislation.

Departmental Budgets

Questions (167)

Thomas Byrne

Question:

167. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the current and capital funding allocated to his Department; and the underspend or overspend to date in 2018 under each category based on his Department's spending profile. [32092/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The 2018 allocation for the Department of Education and Skills is €10.1 billion.  The Vote has a gross funding allocation for 2018 of €9,673 million. This is made up of €8,928 million in current and €745 million in capital. The National Training Fund (NTF) is also included in the Department's expenditure ceiling, with an allocation of €415.5 million (all current).  

At the end of June 2018, based on the spending profiles set out at the beginning of the year the Department was €12 million below profile (0.3%). This is due to €28 million (0.6%) expenditure ahead of profile on the current side and €40m (11.1%) expenditure behind profile on the capital side. 

On the current side, expenditure is ahead of profile primarily due to superannuation costs exceeding the profiled funding allocation. The spend behind profile on the capital side is primarily due to delays in the delivery of some large scale schools capital projects and a VAT payment for a PPP project originally profiled for earlier in the year which will now be paid at a later stage in the year. It is anticipated that the Department’s capital allocation will be expended in full by the end of the year.

NTF expenditure is currently €4 million ahead of profile, but this is primarily due to timing issues.

Parent and Student Charter

Questions (168)

Thomas Byrne

Question:

168. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of prescribed procedures that he has issued under section 28 of the Education Act 2008; and the number of appeals that have been opened and upheld under the remit of the section. [32093/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

As to date no procedures have been prescribed under Section 28, it is my intention to replace Section 28 of the Education Act, 1998 and introduce new legislation which will require each school to prepare and publish a Parent and Student Charter. My Department is currently drafting an Education (Parent and Student Charter) Bill in conjunction with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.

When the legislation is enacted, every school will be required to consult with parents and students, and publish a Parent and Student Charter.

The legislation will allow the Minister to set out national guidelines which schools will follow when drawing up their own charter. Each charter will require a school to: 

- Invite feedback from students and parents;

- Consult students and parents regularly in relation to school costs and work to avoid costs acting as a barrier to participation;

- Publish a School financial statement which would include information on how any voluntary contributions are used;

- Acknowledge gaps, deficiencies or room for improvement;

- Provide a fair and accessible mechanism for resolving complaints, including through mediation. The use of formal grievance and complaint processes should be a last response, except in the most serious of cases

- Publish the number of complaints made, the reasons for the outcome in each case, and how the outcome was reached by the school.

- Provide better information about School Management, School Policies including on admission and information on extracurricular activities and

- Provide students and parents with information on school performance

Third Level Expenditure

Questions (169)

Thomas Byrne

Question:

169. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills the deficit and debt incurred by each State funded institute of technology and university in each of the years 2016 to 2017 and to date in 2018. [32094/18]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

My Officials are currently liaising with the HEA to co-ordinate the information requested by the Deputy.  I will arrange for a response to issue directly to the Deputy in the coming days.

Apprenticeship Data

Questions (170, 171, 174)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

170. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of male and female apprentices in training by each employment sector and sub sector at 30 June 2016, 30 June 2017, 31 December 2017 and 30 June 2018 for craft based and consortia led apprenticeships in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32099/18]

Billy Kelleher

Question:

171. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new apprenticeship registrations in each employment sector and sub sector on an annual basis over the 2014 to 2017 period and to 30 June 2018 for all craft based and consortia led apprenticeships in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32100/18]

Billy Kelleher

Question:

174. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills the apprentice population forecasted in each employment sector and subsector in each of the years 2016 to 2020 by craft based and new consortia led apprenticeships; and the apprentice population in each employment sector and subsector at 31 December 2017 and 30 June 2018. [32103/18]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

I propose to task Questions Nos. 170, 171 and 174 together.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out on the attached tabular statements.  Please note that SOLAS captures apprentice population figures for end of each year and year-to-date only and therefore June 2017 figures are not available at this time.

Apprentice Registrations

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
					YTD*
CONSTRUCTION
Brick & Stonelaying	20	26	52	60	36
Cabinet-making	0	0	0	0	0
Carpentry & Joinery	185	291	399	443	243
Floor & Wall Tiling	0	0	0	0	0
Painting & Decorating	11	19	27	44	8
Plastering	9	7	18	34	12
Plumbing	318	289	345	532	288
Stonecutting & Stonemasonry	16	13	2	8	1
Wood Manufacturing & Finishing	23	48	71	59	47
Total	582	693	914	1,180	635
ELECTRICAL
Aircraft Mechanics	33	34	39	53	0
Electrical	845	956	1,343	1,705	837
Electrical Instrumentation	85	83	106	120	38
Electronic Security Systems	16	28	28	72	33
Industrial Electrical Engineering	0	0	12	19	1
Instrumentation	10	8	10	20	4
Refrigeration & Air Conditioning	62	75	79	106	56
Total	1,051	1,184	1,617	2,095	969
ENGINEERING
Mechanical Automation & Maintenance Fitting	174	153	163	183	90
Farriery	4	7	5	6	3
Industrial Insulation	10	13	10	21	10
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 6)	0	0	0	40	6
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 7)	0	0	0	36	4
Metal Fabrication	176	198	186	224	122
Pipefitting	0	37	33	25	26
Polymer Processing Technology	0	0	0	25	0
Sheet Metalworking	23	38	40	53	39
Toolmaking	66	62	66	65	22
Total	453	508	503	678	322
FINANCE
Accounting Technician	0	0	0	86	1
Insurance Practice	0	0	67	71	3
International Financial Services Associate	0	0	0	15	0
International Financial Services Specialist	0	0	0	18	0
Total	0	0	67	190	4
HOSPITALITY
Commis Chef	0	0	0	25	45
Total	0	0	0	25	45
MOTOR
Agricultural Mechanics	38	59	43	45	15
Construction Plant Fitting	56	77	59	86	33
Heavy Vehicle Mechanics	145	154	136	143	68
Motor Mechanics	325	423	420	353	173
Vehicle Body Repairs	40	47	58	46	15
Total	604	760	716	673	304
ICT
ICT Associate Professional Network Technician	0	0	0	0	0
ICT Associate Professional Software Developer	0	0	0	0	1
Total					1
PRINTING
Print Media	8	8	4	2	0
Total	8	8	4	2	0
Total Craft Apprenticeships	2,698	3,153	3,742	4,508	2,219
Total New Consortia Total (in red)	0	0	79	335	61
Grand Total	2,698	3,153	3,821	4,843	2,280

*June 30th 2018

Table for PQ 32103/18

	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Forecast Population Craft Apprenticeships	11,025	12,561	15,605	18,322	21,095
Forecast Population New Consortia Apprenticeships	82	882	2,370	3,994	6,069
Total Forecast Population	11,107	13,443	17,975	22,316	27,164

[Table cont]

Apprentice Population

	2017	YTD 2018
	Dec	June
CONSTRUCTION
Brick & Stonelaying	121	134
Cabinet-making	2	2
Carpentry & Joinery	1,136	1,265
Floor & Wall Tiling	0	0
Painting & Decorating	85	88
Plastering	63	67
Plumbing	1,272	1,433
Stonecutting & Stonemasonry	33	33
Wood Manufacturing & Finishing	161	197
Total	2,873	3,219
ELECTRICAL
Aircraft Mechanics	158	132
Electrical	4,484	4,759
Electrical Instrumentation	327	331
Electronic Security Systems	120	137
Industrial Electrical Engineering	31	32
Instrumentation	43	42
Refrigeration & Air Conditioning	295	316
Total	5,458	5,749
ENGINEERING
Mechanical Automation & Maintenance Fitting	612	609
Farriery	18	23
Industrial Insulation	38	45
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 6)	39	45
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 7)	36	39
Metal Fabrication	681	711
Pipefitting	81	102
Polymer Processing Technology	23	23
Sheet Metalworking	118	132
Toolmaking	242	235
Total	1,888	1,964
FINANCE
Accounting Technician	71	66
Insurance Practice	138	130
International Financial Services Associate	14	14
International Financial Services Specialist	14	14
Total	237	224
HOSPITALITY
Commis Chef	25	60
Total	25	60
MOTOR
Agricultural Mechanics	154	154
Construction Plant Fitting	248	244
Heavy Vehicle Mechanics	493	514
Motor Mechanics	1,293	1,302
Vehicle Body Repairs	167	154
Total	2,355	2,368
PRINTING
Print Media	13	11
Total	13	11
Total Craft Apprenticeships	12,456	13,166
Total New Consortia Total (in red)	393	429
Grand Total	12,849	13,595

Apprentice Population by Sector, Trade and Gender

Population at end:	Dec-17			End June 2018
	Female	Male	Grand Total	Female	Male	Grand Total
Construction Total	4	2,869	2,873	9	3,210	3,219
Brick and Stonelaying	-	121	121	-	134	134
Cabinet Making	-	2	2	-	2	2
Carpentry and Joinery	1	1,135	1,136	5	1,260	1,265
Floor and Wall Tiling	-	-	-	-	-	-
Painting and Decorating	1	84	85	2	86	88
Plastering	-	63	63	-	67	67
Plumbing	1	1,271	1,272	1	1,432	1,433
Stonecutting and Stonemasonry	-	33	33	-	33	33
Wood Manufacturing and Finishing	1	160	161	1	196	197
Wood Machinist	-	-	-	-	-	-
Electrical Total	24	5,434	5,458	28	5,721	5,749
Aircraft Mechanics	3	155	158	3	129	132
Electrical	16	4,468	4,484	20	4,739	4,759
Electrical Instrumentation	3	324	327	4	327	331
Electronic Security Systems	1	119	120	1	136	137
Industrial Electrical Eng	-	31	31	-	32	32
Instrumentation	1	42	43	-	42	42
Refrigeration		295	295	-	316	316
Engineering Total	9	1,879	1,888	10	1,954	1,964
Farriery	-	18	18	-	23	23
Industrial Insulation	-	38	38	-	45	45
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 6)	2	37	39	2	43	45
Manufacturing Engineering (Level 7)	3	33	36	3	36	39
M.A.M.F.	2	610	612	2	607	609
Metal Fabrication	1	680	681	2	709	711
Pipefitting	1	80	81	1	101	102
Polymer Processing Tech	-	23	23	-	23	23
Sheet Metalworking	-	118	118	-	132	132
Toolmaking	-	242	242	-	235	235
Financial Total	100	137	237	94	130	224
Accounting Technician	39	32	71	37	29	66
Insurance Practice	53	85	138	49	81	130
International Financial Services Associate	4	10	14	4	10	14
International Financial Services Specialist	4	10	14	4	10	14
Hospitality Total	7	18	25	11	49	60
Commis Chef	7	18	25	11	49	60
ICT Total	7	18	25	1	-	1
ICT Associate Professional Software Developer	7	18	25	1	-	1
Motor Total	6	2,349	2,355	8	2,360	2,368
Agricultural Mechanics	-	154	154	1	153	154
Construction Plant Fitting	-	248	248	-	244	244
Heavy Vehicle Mechanics	-	493	493	-	514	514
Motor Mechanics	5	1,288	1,293	7	1,295	1,302
Vehicle Body Repairs	1	166	167	-	154	154
Printing & Paper Total	1	12	13	-	11	11
Print Media	1	12	13	-	11	11
Printing	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bookbinding	-	-	-	-	-	-
Grand Total	151	12,698	12,849	161	13,435	13,596

SOLAS Training and Education Programmes Data

Questions (172, 173)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

172. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of male and female trainees enrolled by employment sector and subsector at 30 June 2016, 30 June 2017, 31 December 2017 and 30 June 2018 for existing traineeships and new or relaunched traineeships in tabular form; the budget allocation in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for State funded traineeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32101/18]

Billy Kelleher

Question:

173. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of live traineeship programmes forecasted for all existing traineeships and the targeted new enrolments per annum in each of the years 2016 to 2020; the forecasted number of traineeship programmes cumulative in addition to planned new enrolments per annum for new or relaunched traineeships; and the number realised for existing traineeships and new or relaunched traineeships, that is, trainee enrolments and cumulative number of traineeship programmes operationalised for these targets at 31 December 2016, 31 December 2017 and 30 June 2018, in tabular form. [32102/18]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out on the attached tabular statement.  I have been informed by SOLAS that their records show traineeship as two programme categories, Traineeship (for employment) and Traineeship (in employment) and therefore some of the information in relation to gender and employment  sector breakdown is not available.

Targets 2016-2020

Existing Traineeships	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Number of ‘live traineeships programmes’	24	24	24	24	24
Target new enrolments per annum	2,400	2,400	3,000	3,500	3,500
New/relaunched traineeships
Number of traineeship programmes (cumulative)	2	4	10	20	30
Planned new enrolments per annum	100	200	900	1,500	1,500
Total target trainee enrolments p.a.	2,500	2,600	3,900	5,000	5,000

Allocation for Traineeships

Year	€
2016	€29,398,301
2017	€26,159,261
2018	€41,000,000 (subject to SOLAS/ETB service planning process)

New Enrolments/Starters 2018 as at 2 July 2018

Programme Category	Female	Male	Total
Traineeship Employed	2	3	5
Traineeship Training	581	598	1,179
Total	583	601	1,184

Traineeships and enrolment YTD 2018

Programme Category	Female	Male	Total
Traineeship Training	823	951	1,774