Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the rules governing the back to education allowance, with particular reference to advancement from one FETAC level to another; if there are any exceptions to these rules; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9208/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people on social welfare payments to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held. It is a non-statutory scheme with administrative operational guidelines. A person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others.

Progression has always been a fundamental condition of BTEA. State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one. This is necessary to ensure displacement does not occur, in that courses could be offered to students who are not progressing at the cost of students progressing from a lower education level.