Written Answers. - Industrial Disputes.
Michael Ring
Ceist:
135
Mr. Ring
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the projected costs of school supervision to June 2002 on a county basis; the average estimated payment to a supervisor; and the number of supervisors employed on a county by county basis.
[12120/02]
Michael Ring
Ceist:
136
Mr. Ring
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the projected cost of school supervision up to June 2002 or until the school term ends; and the amount he expects it will have cost his Department for supervisor wages.
[12121/02]
Róisín Shortall
Ceist:
152
Ms Shortall
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the cost to date of the contingency plans for supervision and substitution on a weekly basis; and the total amount he has allocated for this purpose.
[12215/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 136 and 152 together.
Officials of my Department held discussions with the representatives of the managerial authorities in the second level sector in order to ensure that schools would remain open when the ASTI directive to its members to withdraw from voluntary supervision and substitution duties took effect on the 4 March 2002. Contingency arrangements were drawn up by the representative management groups, the Joint Managerial Body, the Irish Vocational Education Association and the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools following detailed discussions with officials of my Department. As part of the contingency arrangements, my Department undertook to resource schools in order that they could employ staff to provide supervision and thereby remain open. In addition, my Department undertook to recoup the cost to the management authorities in advertising for, recruiting and training personnel to provide supervision services in schools on a temporary contractual basis and to operate a telephone help-line for schools. The sum of €163,981 has been recouped to the JMB to offset the cost of providing these services to date.
Supervisors who contracted for delivery of supervision services are being remunerated at a daily contract rate of €68.56, based on a minimum of two hours' supervision. Where further supervision above these two hours is required, this is being remunerated at €34.28 per additional hour. This is the equivalent to the hourly rate offered to teachers.
For purposes of the contingency arrangements, payments have been made to schools by my Department, calculated on the basis of €1,270 per whole time equivalent teacher post per annum. In addition, funding has also been provided to cover employers' PRSI and holiday pay. Under the contingency arrangements a payment amounting to 5% of supervision costs is being provided to schools to pay for additional support, including secretarial assistance. In aggregate, the sum disbursed to schools amounts to some €12 million, which equates to 12 weeks calculated in accordance with the above formula. The contingency plan acknowledges that supplementary allocations may need to be made to some schools at a later stage if their approved outgoings are greater than the amount of the grant. Accordingly, the final costs are not available.
The contingency plan, by its nature, is flexible and does not specify a pupil-supervisor ratio. As it is recognised that the number of supervisors required would vary from school to school depending on local circumstances including layout, both internal and external, it is considered that individual school management authorities are best placed to assess the level of cover and the number of persons required on an ongoing basis. Responsibility accordingly for the making of appointments is a matter for school authorities. Information concerning the number of supervisors recruited by schools in each county, the number of hours worked per supervisor and the average payment to each supervisor is not available to my Department.
