Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Costello for raising this serious matter on the Adjournment. On behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, I will reply.

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 established the National Educational Welfare Board as the single national body with responsibility for school attendance. The Act provides a comprehensive framework promoting regular school attendance and tackling the problems of absenteeism and early school leaving. The general functions of the board are to ensure that each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education.

To discharge its responsibilities, the board is developing a nationwide service that is accessible to schools, parents-guardians and others concerned with the welfare of young people. For this purpose, educational welfare officers are being appointed and deployed throughout the country to provide a welfare-focused service to support regular school attendance and discharge the board's functions locally.

The overall authorised staffing complement is 94, comprising 16 HQ and support staff, five regional managers, 11 senior educational welfare officers and 62 educational welfare officers. I understand that some staff vacancies exist at present but that the board is in the process of making appointments which will bring the service delivery staff to its authorised complement.

At this stage of its development, the aim of the board is to provide a service to the most disadvantaged areas, including areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme and most at-risk groups. Five regional teams have been established with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and an educational welfare service is now available, for the first time, in the cities of Limerick, Galway and Kilkenny. A total of 12 towns with significant school-going populations, 11 of which are designated under the Government's RAPID programme, also now have an educational welfare officer allocated to them. These towns are Dundalk, Drogheda, Navan, Athlone, Carlow, Wexford, Bray, Clonmel, Tralee, Ennis, Sligo and Letterkenny. In addition, the board will follow up on urgent cases nationally.

It is recognised that the difficulties experienced in disadvantaged areas cannot be solved by one agency acting alone. Education is but one of the many needs of the people living in these areas. The board is working in close co-operation with other services from the education, health and justice areas so that children in need of special support are identified very early in their lives and followed up in a multi-disciplinary way. I have no doubt this service will help prevent children and young people becoming involved in delinquent and anti-social behaviour in the future.

There are a range of schemes, initiatives and services dealing with educational disadvantage at primary and post-primary level. These include the school completion programme, the visiting teacher service for Travellers and the home-school-community liaison scheme. Each of these schemes contributes in a positive way to promoting the education of children and young people.

The board consults schools, teachers, parents and others in regard to its services and has established a school implementation group to advise on its working arrangements with schools. The board has also moved to provide a service for families who decide to have their children educated in places other than recognised schools. The first assessments of education provided in places other than recognised schools have been carried out by three assessors appointed for this purpose. Work is continuing on the establishment of the register for 16 and 17 year olds who leave school to enter employment. The board also ensures that information concerning the Act and the work of the board generally is made available to schools, parents and others as soon as possible. An introductory letter was issued to all schools in March 2004.

Guidelines were issued by the NEWB to all primary and post-primary schools on 26 January 2005 on reporting student absences. The guidelines provide step-by-step advice on how and when school attendance returns should be made and how the new website, www.schoolreturn.ie, can be used by schools to comply with their legal obligations to report student absences to the board.

The budget which has been allocated to the National Educational Welfare Board for 2005 is €7.8 million, an increase of €1.3 million, or 20%, on the 2004 allocation. The percentage increase allocated to the board for 2005 is more than double that for the education Vote as a whole and this provision will enable the board to continue to develop its services during the year.

In the summer of 2004 the board received the first comprehensive data returns from the schools which are assisting it to keep the level of need for the new service in certain areas under review. I will outline the principal findings of the report. Attendance is lower at post-primary level than at primary level. At primary level every student misses 11 days, on average, of a total of 183 days. At post-primary level every student misses 15 days, on average, of a total of 167 days. One in ten students is absent for 20 days or more at primary level. Almost one in five students is absent for 20 days or more at post-primary level. The rates I have outlined are similar to those in England.

I appreciate that the reply I am giving to the Deputy is of a general nature.

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