Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to implement proposals to assess capital assets and income when means testing student grants in the 2013-2014 academic year; if he will confirm the publication date of the findings of the Higher Educational Authority National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030. [43233/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, following the Government's agreement in principle to broaden the current means-testing arrangements for student grants by including the value of capital assets, I set up a dedicated implementation group to make detailed proposals for implementation in 2013. The draft report I have received from the implementation group is under consideration. I will consult my Cabinet colleagues further in due course. I can confirm that the national strategy for higher education in 2030, which has been endorsed by the Government as the roadmap for the development of the higher education system in Ireland, was published in January 2011.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Can the Minister indicate when he received the draft report from the implementation group? When will his considerations be complete? When will the full report be published? This matter is causing a great deal of anxiety, particularly among the farming community. Many thousands of farmers are outside this building today. They have genuine worries about the threat to rural Ireland.

It is not just the farming community as there are sole traders who may have assets. Some subtlety needs to be brought to this as soon as possible. Will the Minister give some indication when he expects that final report to be published and when a decision will be brought before Cabinet?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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First, whatever decision is made, it will not start to take effect until the academic year 2013-14. We have a bit of time, therefore, and I want to use that time to ensure we get a satisfactory report that sets out in a fair and proper manner to achieve what it is trying to achieve, which is to get a degree of equality in terms of the eligibility of students and their households to apply for support, taking into account all of the economic factors involved. That is what we are trying to do. While I would like to get that sooner rather than later so everybody can plan, I cannot give the Deputy a firm date in regard to it. I would imagine it will, hopefully, be this side of Christmas but that is an indication rather than a prediction.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister confirm, in regard to the draft report he has received, that he is just looking at the value of the assets or is he also taking into account debts that may apply against those assets? Will it be the net or gross value of the assets that will be taken into account? Will the Minister give some indication of the draft report's focus in terms of how he is going to value particular assets?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I do not want to go into the precise detail or to in any way mislead the Deputy. What we are trying to look at is whether households that have a farm or a small business have the capacity, based on those additional assets plus the income they derive from the utilisation of those assets, to fund education in a way that is different from or additional to that of a family where the only income is the PAYE income. We are trying to look at that in as sensitive a way as possible, having regard to the concerns that have been expressed in recent months but which were expressed very vociferously in the past as well when this matter was mooted.