Departmental Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2023

Monday, 11 September 2023

Questions (720, 721, 722, 723)

Ivana Bacik

Question:

720. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education the estimated cost saving from amalgamating vocational education committees and education and training boards. [38811/23]

Ivana Bacik

Question:

721. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education if she will make a statement on progress to create a staffing structure for education and training boards since 2013. [38812/23]

Ivana Bacik

Question:

722. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education the functions undertaken by education and training boards. [38813/23]

Ivana Bacik

Question:

723. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Education the number of administrative staff employed in education and training boards (ETBs); the number of agency administrative staff employed in ETBs; and the annual expenditure by ETBs on outsourced administrative work in each of the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, including on agency administrative contracts and project management consultants. [38814/23]

Written answers

Minister for Education

I propose to take Questions Nos. 720 to 723, inclusive, together.

The ETB sector has undergone unprecedented change in recent years. Under the Education and Training Board Act 2013, the 33 VECs were dissolved and 16 ETBs established. For the majority of ETBs, this has involved the amalgamation of the service provided by two, and sometimes three, separate and independent VECs. At the same time, major changes also took place in the coordination and funding of further education and training with the establishment of SOLAS in October 2013. As well as integrating the further education services delivered by the former VECs, ETBs became responsible for the provision of training formerly delivered or contracted by the former FÁS regional training centres.

Since establishment, ETBs, individually and collectively, have grown and service provision has expanded. Accordingly, a like by like comparison of costs between the existing 16 ETBs and the previous 33 VECs is not possible.

The functions of ETBs are set out in section 10 of the Education and Training Board Act, 2013 as follows –

“The general functions of an education and training board shall be to—

(a) establish and maintain recognised schools, centres for education and education or training facilities in its functional area,

(b) when directed to do so by the Minister under section 20 —

(i) establish and maintain recognised schools in its functional area,

(ii) establish and maintain centres for education in its functional area,

(iii) maintain centres for education or recognised schools in its functional area, and

(iv) establish, maintain or resource education or training facilities in its functional area,

(c) plan, provide, coordinate and review the provision of education and training, including education and training for the purpose of employment, and services ancillary thereto in its functional area in—

(i) recognised schools or centres for education maintained by it,

(ii) education or training facilities maintained or resourced by it,

(iii) children detention schools,

(iv) prisons, and

(v) facilities maintained by other public service bodies,

(d) enter into arrangements with, and provide support services to, education or training providers, in accordance with section 22 ,

(e) establish scholarships in accordance with section 24 ,

(f) adopt a strategy statement in accordance with section 27 ,

(g) adopt an annual service plan in accordance with section 47 ,

(h) cooperate with any body nominated to carry out the internal audit functions under section 52 ,

(i) provide education and training at the request of, and on behalf of, any body which funds training out of money provided to that body by the Oireachtas,

(j) support the provision, coordination, administration and assessment of youth work services in its functional area and provide such information as may be requested by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in relation to such support, and

(k) assess whether the manner in which it performs its functions is economical, efficient and effective.”

Following the establishment of ETBs, a project was established to devise a future organisational design for ETBs to reflect their new roles. This project involved establishing three pillars in each ETB to support its functions (Schools, Further Education and Training (FET), and Organisation Support and Design (OSD)), each pillar is headed up by a Director. This has significantly increased the senior management supports in each ETB and these posts have provided important additional expertise to the sector.

In relation to the question of administrative staff, my Department provides each ETB with a non-teaching staffing allocation to support its individual ETB schools and head office. It is the responsibility of each ETB to recruit and manage staffing levels within this allocation, which would include assigning staff to the different functional areas and while an individual may initially be recruited to work in a particular area, the Chief Executive has the discretion to deploy staff in accordance with the needs of the organisation. In supporting ETBs, my Department engages with ETBs on an on-going basis around staffing levels in their schools and head office and makes decisions in respect of new/replacement non-teaching staff in line with set down criteria used when it comes to allocating non-teaching staff to these areas.

I can confirm that over recent years that my Department has, as resources permitted, granted a significant number of additional administrative and maintenance posts to the ETB sector. In that regard, in the period since 2015, the Department has increased the number of approved posts in Head Offices by 29% across the sector.

ETBs are also provided with the Schools Services Support Funding (SSSF) from my Department to assist with the provision of support services for schools. ETBs have discretion in how they use this fund with some opting to use part of their allocation to pay for additional non-teaching staffing supports services for schools. In relation to the use of agency staff, my Department’s approach is that ETBs should only avail of agency staff as a temporary measure to fill a gap on a temporary basis, and only after an ETB has utilised the staffing provided to it by way of general allocation in the first instance.

It is important that ETBs retain the discretion to buy in services when the need arises. ETBs are not required to provide a breakdown to my Department in relation to spend on support services for schools, project management consultants or the numbers of agency staff that work in ETBs. Accordingly, data in relation to such categories of expenditure is not available in my Department.

The latest staffing returns for the ETB sector in respect of schools and head office posts allocated by my Department show that it had 1,561 whole-time equivalent administrative posts (WTE) at the end of Q4 2022 of which 820 WTE are employed in ETB Schools and 741 are in head offices.

My Department, together with the Department of Further Education and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, remains fully committed to supporting ETBs and will continue to work closely with individual ETBs and with the sector collectively to ensure they are adequately resourced to deliver their very important work.