Results 4,421-4,440 of 46,260 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Construction Industry (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department is undertaking a series of measures to recruit additional construction workers in to the sector to meet the demands for housing. The Report on the Analysis of Skills for Residential Construction and Retrofitting, 2023 to 2030published last year indicates a need for 50, 831 new entrants into the construction sector, from professional, craft, operative and other trades routes. My...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: The Student Grant Scheme is administered by the centralised national grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland), a business unit of CDETB (City of Dublin Education and Training Board), on behalf of the Department. As of the 17th September over 90,000 applications have been made to SUSI for the 2023/2024 academic year. I can confirm that since 1 January 2023, SUSI...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: The backlogs in apprentice progression, predominantly at phase-2 off-the-job, has been an area of unrelenting focus for this Government. In August 2021, there were almost 12,000 apprentices awaiting off-the-job training. At the end of August this year, 7,578 apprentices were waiting for off-the-job training. Of these 5,257 apprentices were waiting longer than six months. During 2019, some...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: Improvements to the student grant scheme has been a priority for me since taking up my Ministerial appointment and I have made many improvements benefitting thousands of students. My Department will continue to invest in higher education in tandem with the reform programme. The Budget 2023 package announced last October provided a number of measures that will offer relief to students for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Cross-Border Co-operation (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: One of the key instruments to enable North-South mobility is the Memorandum of Understanding on Education and the Common Travel Area, which I, along with my colleague, the Minister for Education and the UK Secretary of State for Education signed in 2021. This lays the foundation for North South student mobility in the basis that it ensured there was no change to the fee/ student support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department is actively addressing the availability of student accommodation, given the challenges in the wider rental market. Through “Housing for All”, the Government has approved development of policy and provision of funding to increase the supply of purpose built student accommodation. To date, the Government has approved a total of up to €61m in capital and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: Under Pillar 4 of our national Research and Innovation Strategy, Impact 2030, we have articulated very clearly the vision agreed across Government that, by 2030, “We will be a global leader in nurturing, attracting and retaining talent to drive research and innovation in our higher education and research system, enterprises, communities, communities and public services”. In...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: In recognising the challenges facing our higher education students in accessing affordable supply of accommodation Government approved a new policy led by my Department, to provide State assistance to stimulate the development of new and additional student accommodation. This landmark policy response will, for the first time, see the State providing financial support in the construction of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: I recognise that third level education can be a significant cost for families and students. The main financial support available to students is the Student Grant Scheme. The means-tested Scheme is administered by SUSI on behalf of my Department. Under the Scheme, "holiday earnings", that is income that a student has earned outside of term time in the previous tax year, can be deducted...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department and the Department of Health have made significant progress in providing additional places on healthcare programmes. This year, 460 additional places were created in healthcare programmes, including key therapeutic disciplines. This represents meaningful additionality within existing infrastructure in the Higher Education sector. This follows on from the work of the working...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: In November 2022, the Government confirmed approval for a new policy led by my Department, to provide State assistance to stimulate the development of new and additional student accommodation for public higher education institutions. This landmark policy response will, for the first time, see the State providing financial support in the construction of student accommodation, and underpins the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: Assessment of means under the Student Grant Scheme 2023 is based on gross income from all sources, of the dependent applicant and his/her parents. No deduction is given for outgoings with the exception of pension contributions, legally enforceable maintenance payments and employment related expenses as approved by Revenue. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: The main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved full-time course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 296, 299, 301 and 302 together. Ensuring an appropriate pipeline of suitably qualified graduates is a key priority for me and my Department. Officials from my Department have been engaging extensively with the Higher Education Authority and the higher education sector to identify where additional places can and should be provided in the higher education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: There are a small number of institutions who have courses tailored specifically for students with an intellectual disability. I have visited some of the institutions who run these courses and have met with a number of students this year who are either current or past pupils. However, I am acutely aware that the level of provision is not enough and needs to be increased. The fourth...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: The tertiary education system plays a central role in ensuring that our graduates from higher education, further education and training and from apprenticeship are equipped with the cognitive skills, the essential transversal skills, and the vocational and professional skills and competencies which will equip them for success in work and society. Against the backdrop of the accelerating and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department and I are actively working to address the supply of student accommodation in response to the overall supply and affordability being experienced by our students which is supported by Government approval to develop a number of policy responses to activate supply under Housing for All. I have established a dedicated student accommodation unit in my Department to develop and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 303 and 307 together. The backlogs in apprentice progression, predominantly at phase-2 off-the-job, has been an area of unrelenting focus for this Government. In August 2021, there were almost 12,000 apprentices awaiting off-the-job training. At the end of August this year, 7,578 apprentices were waiting for off-the-job training. Of these 5,257 apprentices...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: Improvements to the student grant scheme has been a key priority since becoming Minister and I have already made a number of significant improvements to the Student Grant Scheme benefitting thousands of students. The Budget 2023 package announced last October included an increase to certain qualification thresholds in that:-The threshold for the student contribution 50% grant has been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (21 Sep 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 305 and 306 together. As the Deputy will appreciate, individual institutions are responsible for staffing matters, including the recruitment of lecturers and the management of any vacant lecturing positions.As Minister, I rightly have no direct role in that regard, and, accordingly, my Department does not collect nor have access to any data relating to...