Results 221-240 of 33,693 for speaker:Simon Harris in 'Written Answers'

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I would like to thank the Deputy for her question. Currently, 58 of the 73 statutory apprenticeship programmes have no qualifying criteria associated in regards to colour blindness. More generally, to support apprentices, information is sought at the point of registration on any additional supports that may be needed. Education and training providers offer learning and other supports to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research and Development (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Policies within my Department are not encompassed by the Education Sectoral meetings within the North-South Ministerial Council. This is led by my colleague, the Minister for Education. However, since the establishment of my Department in August 2020, there were two completed research projects, commissioned by the Shared Island Unit of the Department of Taoiseach, and undertaken by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Budget 2024 (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Investing in further and higher education is an investment in innovation, creativity, and our future and in 2024 over €4.1 billion is being invested in these sectors. This is my Department’s fourth Budget and I’m incredibly proud of the significant progress that has been made so far in creating a sustainable and thriving future for Further and Higher Education. In 2024,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: A significant amount of work has taken place to date, in collaboration with the Department of Health, to increase the number of places in disciplines with acute health care and medical skills shortages. There are some fundamental issues, which are in the control of the health sector, which must be solved to enable expansion. These relate to guarantees of clinical placements, detailed and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Ireland has an advanced system of skills provision, which is agile and responsive to skills shortages as they emerge to address evolving societal and economic needs. Through its work in apprenticeship, construction and green skills and informed by research commissioned, this Department is cognisant of the challenges presented with regard to qualified planner availability. These include issues...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has responsibility for the operation, delivery and development of the State examinations. The SEC has not confirmed a date on which the Leaving Certificate 2024 results will be issued. However, it continues to work intensively to prepare for the examinations process.The date for the issue of the results for 2023 was the 25th August, which was a full...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I would like to thank the Oireachtas Joint Committee for their work on this area and I note the recommendations contained in their report.In 2022 I launched the fourth National Access Plan - A strategic action plan for equity of access, participation and success in higher education, 2022 to 2028. This plan aligns with and builds on the wider ambitions of the Programme for Government to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: My Department does not hold a schedule of datasets shared with other bodies covering the past 20 years to date. The Department was established in 2020.Where my Department shares personal data with another organisation, it does so on the basis of one of the lawful grounds set out in Article 6 (and Article 9 if applicable) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Only in exceptional cases can candidates who are under 23 be assessed without reference to their parents/guardians income or address, Article 21(3)(b) of the Scheme refers. The assessment of a case of estrangement is carefully considered to ensure there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the exceptional circumstances pertaining in such cases genuinely exists. The scheme does not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I wish to apologise for the delay in providing you with the substantive information that you requested via Parliamentary Questions Nos. 148 and 149 of 27 September 2023 concerning the number of staff at senior levels in TU Dublin and remuneration of same at various points in time from 1stJanuary 2019 through 1stOctober 2023. The delay reflects the fact that the information had to be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I wish to apologise to the Deputy for the delay in the response to this PQ. This was due to an administrative oversight within my Department. Two of the Technological Universities have foundations to raise philanthropic donations for their university; the Munster Technological University (MTU) and the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin).The Atlantic Technological University (ATU), the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The data requested by the Deputy regarding staffing in each of the technological universities is not freely available to the HEA at this point. However, the HEA has undertaken to collect the information from the sector, and it will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Staff appointments up to mid-ranking levels are matters for the institutes themselves in the first instance, subject to the parameters of the Employment Control Framework and public sector pay policy. My Department does not have to approve such appointments.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The Commis Chef Apprenticeship programme is currently run in two locations in the City of Dublin ETB area;Coláiste íde College of Further Education, Cardiffsbridge Rd, Finglas West, DublinCrumlin College of Further Education, Crumlin Rd, Crumlin, Dublin 12The programme is also offered at 11 other locations nationally.At present there are no plans to run the Commis Chef...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 recommended significant reform of the higher education landscape, and in particular the consolidation of Institutes of Technology to become new step-change higher education institutions with expanded missions to better meet regional and national needs.The subsequent merging of number of Institutes of Technology since 2019 is creating...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: TU Dublin holds €559.154 Million reserves (per the audited Consolidated Statement of Financial Position as at 31 August 2022). €262.384 Million of these reserves are unrestricted reserves, including capital development reserve of €37.372 Million.The actual reserves that TU Dublin holds that can be used to offset the deficit is €224.912 Million, this being the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1841 and 1842 together. In October 2019, the President of TU Dublin wrote to the Higher Education Authority advising that TU Dublin had instigated an open recruitment process for elements of their required senior management team and that suitable candidates for the posts of Chief Operating Officer and Registrar and Deputy President had been identified. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Higher education institutions, like TU Dublin, are autonomous bodies. As such, the tuition fee payable in respect of part-time and international students, and the process for agreeing the fee amounts, are matters for the college to determine in accordance with section 24 of the Technological Universities Act, 2018 and its own internal governance arrangements. In this regard my Department does...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: In terms of State recurrent grant funding provided towards the operating costs of public HEIs my Department allocates recurrent grant funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA funded institutions. A Recurrent Grant Allocation Model (RGAM) is in operation in the university and technology sectors and the annual core grant is allocated by the HEA to the HEIs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (17 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Statistics published by the HEA relating to student numbers include data on students who are repeating their studies and/or are completing less than 60 credits in a year. This is applicable across all modes of study. Whether a mode of study is recorded as full-time or part-time in the student record system relates to the number of credits a student is taking in an academic year.