Vol. 557 No. 3
16 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Education and Science when the revised guidelines on the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments will be available; and if the limit on the number of assessments available will be withdrawn. [21725/02]
The scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, SCPA, is an interim measure aimed at providing a limited assessment service to schools that do not yet have access to the psychological service provided by the national educational psychological service, NEPS. As this is the second year of the operation of the scheme, the guidelines for the scheme have been slightly amended in the light of the experience of the first year.
Since the beginning of September 2002, 37 additional psychologists have been appointed to NEPS. Thirty of these have now completed their induction programme and NEPS management is currently assigning them to schools. Once this process has been completed, the SCPA guidelines will be circulated to all primary and post-primary schools eligible to avail of the scheme, that is, those that do not have access to the NEPS service at present. The revised guidelines will also be posted on my Department's website.
