Vol. 497 No. 5
360 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans, if any, for the integration and co-ordination at local and national levels of special schemes aimed at breaking the links between poverty and education. [25686/98]
The integration and co-ordination of Department of Education and Science schemes that address the issue of educational disadvantage is an important one for officials in my Department generally. Such integration forms a central focus for specific officers who have responsibility for the management and delivery of the schemes and for co-ordinators who have been seconded to the Department with specific remits in relation to the schemes. This integration is ongoing and its effects are incremental. Specific actions to promote integration are in-career development modules for school personnel and the promotion of complementary actions by the personnel appointed to develop related schemes.
Since the home-school-community liaison scheme began in 1990, part of the local co-ordinators' remit has been the establishment of networks with personnel in local statutory and voluntary agencies with a view to promoting the integrated delivery of services to children and families at risk. That work is continuing and local committees with the aim of developing co-ordination and integration have been set up in many of the liaison areas.
The new eight to 15 year old early school leavers' initiative gives further impetus to the concept of integration and emphasises the integration of the Department's schemes with the services of other statory and voluntary agencies in the school communities. This further and developing level of integration is seen as a vital component in the promotion of social inclusion. Such integration and co-ordination are fundamental to a multi-faceted approach to the retention in school children from disadvantaged backgrounds, to school attainment that is in keeping with the children's abilities, to their certification before leaving the formal educational system and to their life—long attitude to learning and further education.
The importance which attaches to the promotion of co-ordination and integration of services is underlined by the establishment of a Cabinet sub-committee on social inclusion. The work of integration and co-ordination will continue to be an important focus within my Department and a priority issue in its relations and collaboration with all the other relevant agencies.
