Written Answers Nos. 165-176
165. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a design team has been appointed for the required extension to a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; if so, the progress to date with the project; the details of the extension involved; when construction is likely to commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20973/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, a building project for the school to which she refers was included in the Department's 6-Year Construction Programme. My Department has undertaken a site visit to the school in the context of the preparatory work associated with the project. The next step involves initiating the architectural planning process for the project and my Department will be in further contact with the school in this regard.
166. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the letter of acceptance has issued to the successful contractor for the Maynooth education campus; when contracts will be signed; when construction will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20975/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe delivery of the two new post-primary schools have been devolved to Kildare and Wicklow Education & Training Board (ETB). I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the preferred contractor responded to the Letter of Intent on the 21 March last. The documentation provided on foot of the Letter of Intent, is currently being examined by the ETB's Design Team and their insurers.
Assuming that the contractor has complied with the requirements of the Letter of Intent, the ETB have also been authorised to issue the Letter of Acceptance and it is envisaged that this will happen shortly.
167. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in receipt of substantial public money in the form of grants in the region of €600,000 both for the construction of a sports hall and the provision of equipment therein, is in the process of handing over the operation of the sports hall to a private, for-profit company without going to tender; his Department's policy in relation to same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20979/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has no objection in principle to the use of a schools recreational facilities for community use. To encourage schools in this respect, my Department issued a circular to all school authorities in late 2005 urging trustees and Boards of Management to make their facilities available where possible for community education and recreation purposes. Decisions in relation to the use of these school facilities generally remain at the discretion of the school authorities, subject to the condition that the needs of the students attending the school are prioritised in the first instance.
In the case of the school referred to by the Deputy, I can confirm that my Department contributed towards the capital cost of the sports hall in question . I understand that the provision of the facility cost in the region of almost €1 million, with the balance of the funding being provided by the schools Trustees and through local fundraising.
It is also understood that the school has been considering the arrangements, which have not been finalized or agreed as yet, to be put in place in respect of the management of the facility and a proposal in this regard is expected to be submitted to my Department for consideration shortly.
168. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a document (details supplied); if he will examine alternatives to finance this sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20983/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe report of the Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education is currently under consideration by the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills. The report sets out a number of potential funding options for higher education in the period to 2030, including increased state funding with deferred payment of student fees.
Following on from the report as the Minister for Education and Skills I have already acted to secure increased funding in Budget 2017 of €36.5m for higher education and to make further provision in the Department’s expenditure ceiling for 2018 and 2019, which, cumulatively, represents an additional €160m investment by the Exchequer in higher education in the period 2017 – 2018.
In addition, the Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are currently completing a public consultation process on a proposed Exchequer-Employer investment mechanism for higher education and further education and training. The proposal under consultation seeks to deliver up to an additional €200m per annum by 2020 through an increase in the National Training Fund levy.
Moreover, as I have stated previously appropriate technical work will be undertaken, including the examination of relevant literature of which there is a wide range, in relation to the option set out in the Expert Group report on deferred payment of student fees through income contingent student loan schemes. The aim of such technical work is to inform future policy options including in the light of recommendations from the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills.
This comprehensive approach is being taken in order to contribute to the development of a long-term sustainable funding model for the sector. As such, it will be important to build broad political and societal consensus on achieving the most appropriate future funding model and my Department and I continue to work to that end.
169. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views that there is an inconsistency in his Department's aversion to using school level data on education achievement or outcomes in addition to school level survey data to identify schools in which there is concentrated disadvantage for the purposes of DEIS, but is willing to use the same data to indicate schools' socioeconomic context for the purposes of allocating resource teaching under the new SEN allocation model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20990/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFirstly, I wish to advise the Deputy that there is no inconsistency in my Department's use of school level data on education achievement. The use of school level data, i.e. standardised test results, is not used in the identification of schools for inclusion in the DEIS programme nor is it used to calculate the social context element of the school's profile in terms of the new SEN Allocation Model.
DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. The DEIS Review consultation process noted stakeholder concerns about the use of educational outcomes as a basis for extending DEIS supports to schools, or for reducing such supports. In particular it was felt that outcomes achieved due directly to the input of specific additional resources and supports should not be used as a means to remove these supports from schools. It was considered that this would give rise to a perception of penalising success and rewarding failure.
In relation to the new model for allocating Special Educational Needs Teachers to schools, in 2014 the National Council for Special Education Working group Report recommended a new model based on the profiled needs of each school, rather than primarily based on the diagnosed disability of individual children.
It recommended that the allocation of additional teaching supports to schools should be based on a Baseline component provided to every mainstream school to support inclusion, and a school’s educational profile, based on:
- Students with complex special educational needs.
- Percentages of students performing below a certain threshold on standardised test results
- Social context of school which includes gender and educational disadvantage.
However, it should be noted that these are separate elements of the school profile and that standardised test scores have therefore not been used to calculate the social context component of the school profile under the special education teaching allocation model.
Full details of how the special education teaching profiles have been calculated for schools are set out in my Departments Circulars on the 0013/2017 and 0014/2017.
170. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that students that commenced primary school in 2016 and that would not have been assessed at the time their school made an application for the new special education resource teaching model have been omitted from consideration for this system in view of the fact that they were not taken into consideration during the decision-making process; if he will allow appeals in relation to these students that require access to this new model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20991/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra171. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that students that will commence primary school in 2017 and would not have been assessed at the time their school made an application for the new special education resource teaching model; if he will allow appeals in relation to these students that require access to this new model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20992/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together.
I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools were published on 7th March 2017.
These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools.
The revised allocation process replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high incidence special educational needs, and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) allocation process which provided additional resource teaching supports to schools, to support pupils assessed as having Low Incidence disabilities.
The new Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile.
Allocations based on the school profiles were issued to all schools on 7th March. Details of the special education teaching allocations have also been published on the NCSE website.
The aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Substantial research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and piloting have gone in to the development of this model and all of the evidence points to the fact that this new system will deliver better outcomes for children.
No school will lose supports as a result of the implementation of the new model. In addition, no school will receive an allocation, for the support of pupils with complex needs, less than the allocation they received to support such pupils during the 2016/17 school year. No allocation made for such pupils by the NCSE will be removed from schools as long as that pupil remains in the school.
An additional 900 teaching posts have been provided to support the introduction of this new allocation model. The provision of an additional 900 teaching posts is a very significant investment in the provision of additional teaching support for pupils with special educational needs in our schools. This is additional to an increase of 41% in the number of resource teachers allocated to schools annually by the NCSE since 2011.
The additional funding will provide additional supports to over 1200 schools who are identified as needing additional supports as a result of the new model. Supports for children with special educational needs is a key priority for this Government. The new funding will ensure that all schools receive a sufficient allocation of special education needs resources to provide additional teaching support to all pupils, including pupils who have yet to enrol in their school, who require such support.
Under the new allocation model, schools will be provided with a total allocation which includes a baseline allocation for the school and an allocation based on the school’s profile.
The provision of a profiled allocation will give a fairer allocation for each school which recognises that all schools need an allocation for special needs support, but which provides a graduated allocation which takes into account the actual level of need in each school.
Schools will be frontloaded with resources, based on each school’s profile, to provide supports immediately to those pupils who need it without delay. This will reduce the administrative burden on schools as schools will no longer have to complete an application process annually and apply for newly enrolled pupils who require resource hours. Children who need support can have that support provided immediately rather than having to wait for a diagnosis.
Schools will therefore no longer have to make applications, for newly enrolled pupils for whom resource teaching hours may have been provided under the old model, or for pupils who have received a new diagnosis, as schools will now receive a single allocation for all of their special education teaching needs, based on their school size and profile.
The new allocations to schools will include provision to support all pupils in the schools, including where a child receives a diagnosis after the allocation is received by a school, or where there are newly enrolling pupils to the school.
All allocations to schools include a supplementary provision, which has been referred to as the ‘baseline allocation’ which is allocated over and above the profiled allocation.
For students who start school from September 2017, with a specific diagnosis, either in junior infants or transferring from another school, the resources they need will already be in the school under the new model.
It should be noted that this is a brand new model of allocation and is not comparable to the existing model. By using a broad range of attainment and socio-economic criteria, it is expected that generally, a school’s profile will remain relatively constant from year to year. Each year, some students with additional teaching needs will leave and others will enrol, broadly balancing the school profile. Resources allocated under this model will not normally be adjusted between allocations.
The NCSE has published details of the appeals process on the NCSE website: www.ncse.ie.
Schools were asked to submit appeals by March 31st 2017. The appeal process will consider whether the data used to calculate their school profile was correct and complete and whether it was correctly applied in the calculation of their 2017/18 allocation.
DES Circulars 0013/2017 and 0014/2017 outline the basis on which the Education Research Centre determined the allocations for all schools.
The model will allow for some additional provision for exceptional circumstances or where a school’s enrolment levels increase very substantially prior to the next review of the model. The National Council for Special Education will support schools in managing their special education teaching allocations in the first instance. Only in very exceptional circumstances, where it can be demonstrated that the schools profile has changed very significantly since the allocation was made to the school, may an additional allocation of hours be made to the school.
Guidelines for schools on the organisation, deployment and use of their special education teachers to address the need of pupils with special educational needs are now published and available on the Departments website.
The Guidelines will support schools to reflect on how they can review and manage their timetabling practices to ensure the timetable is sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of all pupils in their school who have special needs. The Guidelines encourage schools to ensure they deploy their resources appropriately to meet the needs of all of the children in their school who require additional teaching support, including pupils with emerging needs, or new entrants.
172. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Education and Skills the scores applied to DEIS schools in the recent review based on the individual needs of each school; the score applied to each DEIS school in County Tipperary; the scores awarded to each school awarded DEIS status nationally in band 1 and band 2, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21044/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is the intention of my Department to make available to all schools information relating to this process and their own individual school data. Arrangements for this are in hand and schools will be advised in due course. However it is not proposed to publish this information generally as there is a significant risk that this would allow crude comparisons to be drawn in terms of relative levels of disadvantage in schools. This would be highly divisive; unfair to parents, students and communities; place schools in an invidious position; and be contrary to the public interest.
My Department is also making arrangements for schools to receive information about the DEIS identification process to clarify the methodology used. This resource will also prepare schools for the forthcoming updating of the identification model to take account of 2016 National Census data and 2016/17 pupil data supplied by schools.
Further information on the development of the identification methodology is available on my Department’s website at:http://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/DEIS-Delivering-Equality-of-Opportunity-in-Schools-/DEIS-Review-Report.pdf.
173. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills the timeframe to end the pay inequality that teachers endure in view of the fact that there has now been six years of discrimination. [21061/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs a consequence of the financial crisis, there was a need to enact a number of measures to reduce public expenditure so as to stabilise the country's public finances. A previous Government reduced the salaries and allowances payable to all new entrants to public service recruitment grades by 10% with effect from 1 January 2011. This decision also required that such new entrants would start on the first point of the applicable salary scale, which in the case of teachers had the effect of reducing their starting pay by a further 4-5%. Later in 2011, the Government placed a cap on the overall level of qualification allowances that could be earned by teachers.
Subsequently in 2012, following the public service-wide review of allowances, the Government withdrew qualification allowances for new teachers altogether. However, the Government partially compensated for this by deciding that new entrant teachers would henceforth commence on a new salary scale which had a starting point higher than the starting point of the old scale.
The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration to start. I have used this to negotiate substantial improvements in pay for new teachers. The agreement reached with TUI and INTO in September 2016 will see pay rises of between 15-22% (between €4,600 and €6,700) for new entrant teachers. The agreements also provide for earlier permanency for younger teachers, new promotion opportunities and new flexibilities in working hours. The pay increases for new teachers were also available to ASTI members under the proposals which members recently balloted on.
The agreements have restored an estimated 75% of the difference in pay for more recently recruited teachers and deliver full equality at later points in the scale. This is substantial progress and strikes an equitable balance with other claims for funding on my Department, particularly needs such as enhanced service for children with special educational needs, for disadvantaged schools, for growing schools, for Higher Education and for apprenticeships.
It must be borne in mind that the pay reduction for post-2011 entrants to the public service applied to all public servants and not just teachers, and that any restoration of these measures in respect of teachers would be expected to be applied elsewhere across the public service. While I am not in a position to provide an estimate of the total cost of restoring all post-1 January 2011 entrants in all areas of the public service to the pre-2011 pay scale arrangements, I can say that in the case of education and training sector employees, including teachers, the estimated cost would be between €65 and €70 million per annum. Clearly, the cost across the entire public service would be substantially higher.
Further negotiation on new entrant pay cannot focus on just one sector. A broader assessment of pay and new entrant pay across the public service will be informed by the analysis of the Public Service Pay Commission.
The Government established the Commission to examine pay levels across the public service, including entry levels of pay. The Government also supports the gradual, negotiated repeal of the FEMPI legislation, having due regard to the priority to improve public services and in recognition of the essential role played by public servants.
I accept that the teacher unions have outstanding pay demands and that the new entrant deal does not travel the full distance that they set out to achieve. However, it does represent significant progress, and the door is not closed to the trade union movement seeking to advance the issue further in the context of future public service pay talks. Indeed, negotiations on a successor agreement to Lansdowne Road will shortly get under way.
174. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the details of payments made by his Department or a public body under the aegis of his Department to a person (details supplied) in the past 36 months and to date in 2017. [21388/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has not made any payments to this individual within the timeframe indicated in the Question.
The information sought by the Deputy in regard to the state bodies under the aegis of my Department is not routinely collated by my Department.
Officials are making enquiries with the state bodies under the remit of my Department and will supply the information sought by the Deputy as soon as possible.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A
Enquiries have been made with the bodies under the aegis of the Deparment and I am advised that no payments were made to the person (details supplied) by these bodies within the timeframe specified.
175. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the details on the rolling out of a new affordable housing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20885/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have no plans at present to re-introduce an Affordable Housing Purchase Scheme because there are a range of measures being taken under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness to increase housing supply overall, with the aim of creating a functioning and sustainable housing system which can meet housing demand at more affordable prices.
The plan is divided into five pillars, with each targeting a specific area of the housing system. Pillar 3, entitled Build More Homes, has a key objective of increasing the output of private housing to meet demand at affordable prices.
The opening up of state owned lands for the development of for mixed-tenure housing, particularly in the major urban areas, where demand is greatest, is an important policy initiative. On 27 April 2017, I published details of some 2,000 hectares of land in public ownership, which has the potential to deliver up to 50,000 homes nationally. Full details of these sites can be accessed on the Rebuilding Ireland Housing Land Map at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/rebuilding-ireland-land-map/.
I have asked all local authorities to be innovative and proactive in developing these sites. The final model for each site will be the subject of careful consideration by the local authority concerned, the elected members included, who are best placed to know and provide for the housing need in their area. Indeed, the Dublin local authorities are well advanced in bringing large-scale sites forward for mixed tenure housing, with projects advertised that can deliver circa 3,000 mixed-tenure homes in the Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council areas alone.
Other measures being taken to increase the supply of housing include:
- €200 million Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund;
- National Treasury Management Agency financing of large-scale “on-site” infrastructure;
- Planning Reforms;
- Putting in place a National Planning Framework and land management actions;
- Efficient design and delivery methods to lower housing delivery costs;
- Measures to support construction innovation and skills;
- The enhanced supply of more affordable starter homes in key locations through a targeted rebate of development contributions in Dublin and Cork for housing supplied under certain price levels;
- New National Apartment Planning Guidelines, reducing the cost of apartment building;
- Changes to aspects of the operation of Strategic Development Zones to enable swifter adjustments to meet market requirements;
- A vacant sites levy.
Pillar 4 of the Rebuilding Ireland Plan, entitled Improve the Rental Sector, provided for the introduction of an affordable rental scheme to enhance the capacity of the private rented sector to provide quality and affordable accommodation for households currently paying a disproportionate amount of disposable income on rent. Lands held by local authorities in rent pressure zones are to be brought to market on a competitive tendering basis, with a view to leveraging the value of the land to deliver the optimum number of units for rent, targeting middle income households, in mixed tenure developments.
176. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the rights a person has in purchasing back a house under the mortgage to rent scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20918/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Government's Mortgage to Rent scheme for borrowers of commercial private lending institutions, a borrower who enters the scheme may buy back the property at market value after a period of 5 years. The Housing Agency administers the scheme on behalf of my Department. Further information on the scheme is available on the Housing Agency website: https://www.housingagency.ie/getattachment/Housing-Information/Mortgage-to-Rent-Scheme/A-Guide-to-the-Mortgage-to-Rent-Scheme-August-2015.pdf.
