Results 5,881-5,900 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: 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: 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: 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 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.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 167 and 176 together. Changes to the School Transport Scheme have generated an increase in the number of queries and representations to my Department and when combined with the routine administrative work undertaken within my Department in relation to school transport provision generally, regrettably, it was not feasible to deal with the increased volume of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Under the terms of my Department's School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, children are eligible for transport where they are attending the nearest recognised school that is or can be resourced to meet their special educational needs. The National Council for Special Education through its network of Special Education Needs Organisers (SENOs) acts in an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (24 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. The Deputy is aware that the child in question is not eligible for school transport but is...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Research and Development Funding (23 Sep 2014)

Damien English: Forfás undertook an analysis of the research and development spending by Government Departments and funding agencies in 2010 and categorised that spending into both basic and applied research. The report entitled “Categorisation of State Expenditure on R&D” was published in November 2010 (see at ) and presents an analysis of the proportion of State funding on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Provision (23 Sep 2014)

Damien English: The purpose of my Department's School Transport Schemes is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. The terms of the School Transport Schemes are applied equitably on a national basis and I have no plans to review the schemes.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Agencies Funding (23 Sep 2014)

Damien English: The current level of funding allocated to the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) is €1.7 million. The cost of doubling this funding would bring the total cost to €3.4 million. SOLAS, the new further education and training authority, has responsibility for all funding for the further education and training sector, including NALA.