Results 5,221-5,240 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I have a couple of questions to deal with. I cannot deal with a specific case here as it would not be appropriate, but I have discussed this case with the Deputy and hopefully we will get an answer on that. There are pressures in this area. The budget for school transport has gone down by 8% or 9% over the last three or four years. There is an issue of demographics and pressure from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: As I said, I will not go into any individual case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Every case raised through me is investigated and I will come back to the Deputy on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I am happy to meet the Deputy, there is no problem with that, and we will go through it all but this is not the forum to do it. There is an issue. The new online system has also caused difficulties but I think people will be able to use that system much earlier from this school term onwards and that will solve that problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Broadband is an issue across many Departments, and hopefully we will see improvements in that area, but that is separate from this issue of school transport.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: It is quite separate, but anyway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I will respond first to Senator Jim D'arcy's questions. The issue of training centres is one I had to deal with in the Seanad on my first day in the job. It has moved on a little. The Department and SOLAS have been trying to facilitate negotiations between the ETBs involved with a view to assessing how to apportion either the funding or the places available. I believe a solution will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Yes, but the majority of queries would be from one area. We are working hard to resolve the issue. With regard to the capital budget, we will spend any money the Oireachtas wishes to give us. There is no direct capital budget in this area. The Senator asked about where further education fitted in. It was discussed this morning and perhaps we should call it the "fourth pillar". We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: The Senator is correct. It is an area of major importance and the money spent on it reflects this, but that is not its reputation and we must correct this. A sum of €800 million is being spent across the various Departments involved. The skills people are given are needed in the economy. Employers wish to engage with the various programmes with a view to being able to fill the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Deputy James Bannon asked two questions, one of which was about JobBridge. That scheme is not within our area, but is within the remit of the Department of Social Protection. However, we are trying to work together across the Departments on the various training options, but as the scheme is not my responsibility, it would not be right for me to answer questions about it. It should be said...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Yes, there are. SOLAS has a five year strategy, one of the key goals of which is getting value for money and targeted evaluation. The issue is how we evaluate the courses and monitor the outcomes. That did not always happen in the past. We all know this, as there are plenty of stories, but I will not go there. I am happy, however, that the current model for the future is the right one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: The figures are almost the same in the last couple of years. I will have the exact figures sent to the Senator. The figures for numbers of places available are the same, while the list of courses is more or less the same, but there might be changes in the titles. I will check for the Senator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I dealt with the banks a lot in the course of my work on another committee in the context of the cost of credit for businesses. We will use the same channels to raise this issue with them directly and see if we can get action on it. The Senator is right that they are strangling students. Obviously students are getting a reduced rate at the early stages and then the interest is being piled...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Yes. Students will take what they are being offered at the start because they need it to get an education. We need to work on that because students are under pressure to get the money and have very little choice. It is an issue we will take up with the banks and see what we can do. I agree with the Senator that it is very important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: They do qualify, yes. The training centres have their own summer works schemes, as I understand it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: That has been the same across the board but colleges running PLC courses, for example, would qualify under the schools capital programme. The arrangement is slightly ad hocin that the education and training boards would make a case for a grant for a particular college. There is no clearly set-aside budget for such works.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Yes, in the context of the value of further education, that is something we can work on. As it stands at the moment, the process is slightly ad hoc. There is no capital allowance set aside as such.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Additional.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme Numbers (25 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 247 together. My Department does not collect information on individual VTOS centres. The following table sets out the completion and progression data on VTOS courses for the years 2004-2012, data for 2013 is not yet available. Progression Destinations for those completing VTOS programmes 2004-2012 Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011...