March 25 2009

Dáil Debates

• Priority Questions: Withdrawal of capitation grants for school services

Parliamentary Questions

• Discussions with schools on Budget cuts
• Special needs assistants and teachers
• Children with special needs more disadvantaged in Budget
• Allowances for Carers

DÁIL DEBATES

• Priority Questions: Withdrawal of capitation grants for school services

Deputy John O’Mahony (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason for the withdrawal of capitation grants for the schools service which provides school books for children with special educational needs in primary schools;

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe (Minister for Education): I have consistently said that the 2009 budget required difficult choices to be made across all areas of public expenditure. These decisions were made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In this respect, education, while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure, could not be entirely spared. The changes made in regard to book grants were one aspect of these measures. The Deputy refers to grants for school books for children with special needs. To clarify, there was no specific special needs aspect to the book grant paid to schools. The key change is that aid for school books is being restricted to schools that are included within the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, scheme. By limiting the funding to schools within the DEIS scheme, savings of €7.5 million will be achieved. DEIS is the action plan for educational inclusion and focuses on addressing the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities. Approximately €7 million was made available in 2008 to DEIS schools at primary and postprimary level for the school book grant scheme. The same level of provision has been made available for distribution to schools in the DEIS programme in 2009. The continuation of this provision is testament to the Government’s determination to prioritise social inclusion and protect the most vulnerable in our society. We must focus targeted resources on the schools in most need. This is in line with the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2006 report on primary disadvantage. My Department has encouraged schools to implement book rental schemes as a measure to minimise the cost of school books to all parents. As far back as 1993, a report commissioned by my Department dealt with the factors which contribute to the cost of school textbooks. The report included useful suggestions for schools, including a code of good practice for the successful operation of book rental schemes. Many schools have developed such rental schemes. It is open to schools to utilise general capitation funding to fund book rental schemes. Enhanced rates of capitation funding are paid in respect of children with special educational needs. The capitation rates for these children range from €512 to €986 per pupil, an increase of 59% from the rate in 2006. I have already said that I favour a reform of the grants system to one overall funding grant that allows schools to use the funding to meet the priorities they identify. I fully acknowledge that there are pressures on school funding generally and that it is difficult for schools to cover all competing priorities. However, we are in very difficult times. By any standards there have been significant improvements in school funding within a relatively short period and the Government is committed to increasing funding further for schools as resources permit. The current state of the public finances and the widely acknowledged need for further cuts in public expenditure simply reinforce the imperatives that underpinned the decisions taken in October.

Deputy John O’Mahony: I thank the Minister for his reply. I am concerned about how these changes will affect pupils in schools throughout the State. The Minister referred to support for DEIS schools. I have before me a list of parents and teachers of students with special needs in non-DEIS schools. Recurring themes in the months since our economic difficulties emerged are that there must be value for money and that the vulnerable must be protected. In this instance, students with special educational needs in non-DEIS schools are falling through the cracks. In my own constituency of Mayo, a capitation grant of €65,000 was paid to the county council last year to provide a school library service. Special needs teachers were able to obtain books under this scheme for children with special needs in their schools. We are all aware of the need for reductions in public expenditure. It is only right that those parents who can afford to do so should pay for their children’s school books. However, what about vulnerable children in non-DEIS schools? What has the Minister to say to those teachers whose students have been eligible for this service thus far but are now to be denied it? Has any provision been made for such students? Officials in Mayo County Council have told me that the cutbacks will affect not only children with special needs but also non-national children, or the new Irish as they are often described. Other services that may be affected include the link-up to the Health Service Executive for the provision of speech therapy services. What will the Minister say to the parents and teachers of the children for whom these services will be withdrawn in June 2009?

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The Deputy has raised several issues. The Comptroller and Auditor General indicated clearly that any supports we provide should be targeted at students in disadvantaged areas. Therefore, I have ensured that funding is targeted at DEIS schools. Deputy O’Mahony did not refer to the increase in the capitation grant this year. It is true that some grants have been withdrawn but the reality is that there has been a significant increase in capitation to the primary sector. Neither did the Deputy refer to the enhanced rates of capitation funding paid in respect of children with special educational needs who attend special schools or special classes attached to mainstream schools. The current rate ranges from €512 to €986 per pupil, an increase of 59% since 2006. My objective is to offer flexibility to schools by allowing them to decide on their own priorities for capitation funding.

Deputy John O’Mahony: The problem is that the Minister is giving with one hand and taking away with the other. The enhanced funding to which he refers was in place before these cutbacks were introduced. What is to be done for the children who continue to require the supports formerly available under this scheme? That is the question I want the Minister to answer.

Deputy Batt O’Keeffe: The Deputy claims the enhanced provisions were in place prior to the changes announced in the October budget. That is not correct. I specifically undertook to increase the capitation grant in that budget having acknowledged that the existing grant was too low. There has been a 59% increase in the rate of capitation, which now ranges from €512 to as much as €986, to children with special educational needs who are either in mainstream classes or in special classes. The amount of the capitation depends on the individual needs of the child. That is significant in itself.

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Discussions with schools on Budget cuts

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science the degree to which he and his Department officials have had discussions with the authorities of the various primary and post-primary schools throughout the country regarding the implementation of the 2009 Budgetary cuts with particular reference to the need to minimise the negative impact on pupil-teacher ratios and the quality, scale and standard of education available to all pupils including those with special needs is not affected to the extent of damaging the future prospects of the children;

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): There has been ongoing engagement and discussion with the relevant education partners involving me and/or my senior officials concerning general education matters and specific budgetary matters, since the budget announcements last October. To be clear there is no doubt that the budget measures concerning staffing will have an impact. There is simply no easy way to control or reduce public expenditure. At the level of individual schools the changes in relation to the allocation of teaching posts will impact in different ways depending on whether enrolment is rising or declining and the degree to which any one school has more teachers than it is entitled to under the allocation processes. Across the school system generally there will inevitably be an impact on class sizes and at post-primary level the changes will impact on the capacity of individual schools to offer as wide a range of subject choices as heretofore in future years. My Department will through the normal processing of examining applications for curricular concessions endeavour to ensure continuity of provision for those already preparing for the certificate examinations. The changes at second level are therefore more likely to impact on the range of subjects that schools will be able to offer to those starting the Junior or Leaving Certificate programmes next September. Specifically in relation to special needs I would like to emphasise that the budget provided for a continuation of the allocation of resource teachers based on the recommendations of the National Council for Special Education. I have been anxious to ensure that the measures are implemented in a transparent and fair manner. My Department has written to the primary schools that are projected to have a net loss or gain in classroom teaching posts in September, 2009. As part of my efforts to ensure that relevant information is openly available to the public detailed information on the opening position for primary schools is now published on my Department’s website. Initial allocation letters have also issued to Post Primary Schools and Vocational Educational Committees. All the above allocations, primary and post-primary are provisional at this stage and reflect the initial allocation position. The final position for any one school will depend on a number of other factors such as the allocation of support teachers, additional posts for schools that are developing rapidly and posts allocated as a result of the appeals processes. The final staffing position for all schools will ultimately not be known until the Autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed for mainstream classroom teachers and any appeals to the Staffing Appeals Boards will have been considered. The appellate process is particularly relevant at post-primary level where any specific curricular needs of the school concerned are considered. Also at post-primary there is no effective system wide redeployment scheme at present and this can mean that schools may end up retain teachers, though over quota. While teacher numbers are important numerous influential reports have highlighted the fact that teacher quality is the single most important factor — far and above anything else — in improving educational outcomes for children. Ensuring high quality teaching and learning is a challenge and dealing with factors that inhibit it represent a challenge for the Government, the Department, school management and indeed teacher unions. The teaching profession in Ireland is highly regarded and well paid by international standards. It continues to attract from the top quartile of students which is a key ingredient to the provision of quality education. 

• Special needs assistants and teachers

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science if it is intended to maintain or increase the number of special needs assistants and teachers here in 2009; if the number of special needs assistants are expected to be maintained in 2009;

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe):  The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support. There has been no change in the criteria governing the allocation of teaching and/or care resources to pupils with special educational needs. There has been unprecedented investment in providing supports for pupils with special needs in recent years. There are now about 19,000 adults in our schools working solely with pupils with special needs. This includes over 10,000 SNAs — compared with just 300 in 1997. There are over 8,000 resource and learning support teachers in our schools compared with just 2,000 in 1998. Over 1,000 other teachers support pupils in our special schools. The Deputy will also be aware that a Value for Money and Policy Review of the Special Needs Assistant scheme is currently being undertaken by my Department. The objectives of a Value for Money and Policy Review are to analyse Exchequer spending in a systematic manner and to provide a basis on which more informed policy decisions can be made. The review is ongoing and to support the overall process it will include engagement with parent representatives, schools, education partners and other representative groups. It is expected that the review will be completed by the end of 2009. 

• Children with special needs more disadvantaged in Budget

Deputy Bernard J. Durkan (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that children with special needs are expected to be more seriously disadvantaged in the course of the Budget 2009 cuts; if he put in place or will put in place particular measures to alleviate such problems;

Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): The Deputy will be aware of my commitment to ensuring that all pupils, including those with special educational needs, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs preferably in school settings through the primary and post-primary school network. The Deputy will also be aware that there has been unprecedented investment in providing supports for pupils with special needs in recent years. There are now about 19,000 adults in our schools working solely with pupils with special needs. This includes over 10,000 SNAs — compared with just 300 in 1997. There are over 8,000 resource and learning support teachers in our schools compared with just 2,000 in 1998. Over 1,000 other teachers support pupils in our special schools. As well as this significant increase in the numbers of additional teachers and SNAs directly providing appropriate education and care supports for children with special educational needs, much investment has taken place in the provision of transport, specialist school accommodation, home tuition, assistive technology and equipment. Additional teaching and SNA supports are allocated as necessary by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in line with my Department’s policy to support children with special educational needs. The Deputy will be aware that additional funding has been allocated to my Department in 2009 to provide for an expansion of the National Educational Psychological service so that all schools in the country will be covered by the service. The additional funding available to NEPS, which represents a 33% increase over the 2008 allocation, will facilitate the recruitment of up to 50 further psychologists. It is envisaged that this will bring the number of NEPS psychologists by the end of 2009 above the proposed 200 incorporated in the Programme for Government. This investment will significantly enhance the capacity of our educational psychologists to directly support schools in the development and delivery of appropriate interventions for children with special educational needs. Additional funding is also being provided to the National Council for Special Education in 2009 to increase the Council’s capacity in the move towards the full implementation of EPSEN. The additional funding will enable the Council to continue to improve, plan and co-ordinate the delivery of services for children with special needs. I have also provided for further investment in teacher training in this area. This will ensure that teachers are provided with opportunities to access continuing professional development so that the learning and teaching needs of all pupils with Special Educational Needs continue to be met. I want to take this opportunity to emphasise that priority will continue to be given to provision for children with special educational needs. I intend to build on the progress that has been achieved in recent years which has seen a huge increase in resources for special needs. The NCSE will continue to support schools, parents, children and teachers. Along with all other areas of expenditure, provision is dependent on the resources available to the Government. 

• Allowances for Carers

Deputy Jack Wall (L): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on correspondence;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The Carer’s Allowance scheme has been significantly improved in recent years and in Budget 2009, I continued this process. The rate of carer’s allowance for those aged 66 or over increased by €7 to €239 per week and for those aged under 66 by €6.50 to €220.50 per week. These increases took effect from January 2009. Recipients of carer’s allowance are also eligible for household benefits, free travel and the respite care grant. Since 1997 weekly payment rates to carers have greatly increased, qualifying conditions for carer’s allowance have significantly eased, coverage of the scheme has been extended and new schemes such as carer’s benefit, half-rate carer’s allowance and the respite care grant have been introduced and extended. The means test for carer’s allowance has been significantly eased over the years, and is now one of the most generous means tests in the social welfare system, most notably with regard to spouse’s earnings. Since April 2008, the income disregard has been 332.50 per week for a single person and €665 per week for a couple. This means that a couple with two children can earn in the region of €37,200 and qualify for the maximum rate of Carer’s Allowance as well as the associated free travel and household benefits. A couple with an income in the region of €60,400 can still qualify for a minimum payment, as well as the associated free travel, household benefits package. These levels surpass the Towards 2016 commitment to ensure that those on average industrial earnings continue to qualify for a full carer’s allowance. From June 2005, the annual respite care grant was extended to all carers who are providing full time care to a person who needs such care, regardless of their income. The rate of the respite care grant has also been increased to €1,700 per year in respect of each care recipient since June 2008. In June 2006, the number of hours for which a person can engage in employment, selfemployment, education or training and still be considered to be providing full time care for the purposes of carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit and the respite care grant was increased from 10 to 15 hours per week. It is estimated that combined expenditure on carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit, the respite care grant and half-rate carers will be €650 million in 2009.

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