Results 18,281-18,300 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Schedule 2 of the Student Grant Scheme 2016 lists the eligible payments for the special rate of maintenance grant. As at 31 December 2015, the reckonable income must include one of the eligible payments listed in this Schedule, or its equivalent from a Member State. The aim of the Child Tax Credits system in the UK/Northern Ireland is somewhat similar to the FIS payment i.e. it...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that provision has already been made for the use of the majority of the funds realised from the sale of the property in question. The further utilisation of the balance of the funds involved is currently under consideration and the ETB will be advised in due course.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department fully funded the provision of a new 12 classroom building for the school to which the Deputy refers. In this regard it paid the Design Team fees, construction costs and all other ancillary costs. The costs incurred by the school do not relate to the project actually delivered and they were incurred by the school without approval from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: On 18 January last, I announced that a new model for allocating Special Education Teaching Resources to mainstream primary and post primary schools will be introduced from September 2017. The aim of this new model is to deliver better outcomes for children with special educational needs. Large amounts of research, analysis, consultation with service users and stakeholders, and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Freedom of Information Data (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: There are no legal fees incurred on FOI requests received by the department for the past three years. Dealing with FOI requests form part of the duties of officials and the time spent on processing such requests are not monitored separately. In cases where search and retrieval time was more than 5 hours, fees are charged and the number of cases where this occurred is set out in the table...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Care Qualifications (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Skillnets is an enterprise-led agency, where groups of private sector companies come together to provide solutions to identified training needs. One of the networks funded under the Skillnets Training Networks Programme is the Carlow Kilkenny Skillnet. The Skillnet offers a Level 7 BA Degree in Early Childhood Education and Care. The course was developed in partnership with member...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Department is working closely with officials in Cork County Council under the Memorandum of Understanding for the acquisition of school sites in relation to the procurement of a site for the school to which the Deputy refers. A site option has been identified and a more in-depth technical assessment is now being undertaken. If it is established that the site is suitable,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I am pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that all aspects of the tendering process for the project to which he refers have been satisfactorily completed. The local Education and Training Board (ETB) is delivering the project and my Department gave approval to it on 27 February last to issue a Letter of Intent to award a contract to the preferred bidder. Assuming that the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan for 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that there have been 8 one teacher schools in the area to which he refers in the period 2010 to date. A table with details of the individual schools and their enrolment trends over the period concerned follows. The enrolment numbers for 2016 represent the enrolment for the 2016-17 academic year. - - 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Roll No. Official School...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including SNA support and additional teaching resources to support individual pupils with special educational needs. The NCSE...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places will arise. The GIS uses data from the Central Statistics Office, Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Department of Social Protection, in addition to my Department’s own databases. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic analyses at primary and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staff Contracts (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Special Needs Assistants contracts define working hours as normal classroom hours including class break periods, attendance before and after school in order to help with preparation and tidying up of classrooms, reception and dispersal of children etc.  The contract will set the normal working hours of the school daily during term time.  These times are agreed locally by the school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Under the statutory based Student Grants Scheme, decisions regarding late applications are matters to be determined by the awarding authority. As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Under the Department's student grant scheme, eligible candidates may receive funding provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution as defined in the scheme. The definition of an approved institution is set out in Section 7 of the Student Support Act 2011 and Regulation 3 of the Student Support Regulations 2016.   In the context of scarce resources, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Designation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. A key element of the DEIS Plan 2017 is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES data. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware,  the school in question has submitted an application to my Department, for significant capital funding for additional school accommodation. The application will be considered in the context of the very significant challenges facing my Department in prioritising available capital funding for essential mainstream classrooms to meet the demand for extra...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that officials from my Department met with representatives of the school referred to and it was agreed that a further meeting would be convened when the pupil data assessment process discussed at the meeting was completed. This process was aimed at allowing adequate time for updated demographic data, taking into account overall current and projected pupil...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy has submitted an application for major capital works to my Department. Applications for major capital works are considered in the context of the very significant challenge facing my Department in prioritising available capital funding for essential mainstream classrooms to meet the demand for extra school places and where an additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school in question was approved funding in 2015 to build 2 classrooms with en-suite toilets and to convert an existing 40m² room into a multi-purpose room.  The School subsequently submitted an application for a GP room which it said it was willing to part fund.The Department approved a grant as a contribution towards the cost of a GP room on that...