Results 6,301-6,320 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Official Travel (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: No officials from my Department or from bodies under the aegis of my Department travelled to the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Budget 2023 (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023, I have secured a significant cost of living package for third level students including: - a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes; and . - once-off reduction of up to 33% in the contribution fee for apprentices. These...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 500 and 510 together. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the annual expenditure on apprentice accommodation allowances and travel allowance per year since 2011 and the total expenditure in each year since 2018 on accommodation allowance and meal allowance for apprentices in tabular form; and the average cost per apprentice per year, is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 501 and 502 together. No such analyses are currently being planned. A series of reforms to the student immigration system for international education (assets.gov.ie/25007/6794897b14064e08bae9a9068a849075.pdf) were implemented in 2015. The reforms were designed to drive real and lasting change in the sector and address abuse of the immigration regime and labour...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 503 and 504 together. Issues regarding overseas travel agencies have previously been brought to the attention of my Department. These agencies are privately owned and primarily operate in other jurisdictions arranging study and travel options for prospective International Higher Education (HE) and English language education (ELE) students to many countries...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: In October the Minister updated the Cabinet Committee on Housing and received support on initial plans for policy development for the provision of student accommodation. The Minister and his officials are actively progressing a new policy that bridges the challenging gap between the viability of delivering purpose-built student accommodation and subsequent rental affordability for students. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: The difficulties faced by students with regard to student accommodation are an issue of which my Department and I are actively pursuing, and their resolution is a high priority for my Department as a whole. In October the Minister updated the Cabinet Committee on Housing and received support on initial plans for policy development for the provision of student accommodation. The Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 507, 508, 513 and 514 together. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of apprentices employed by each State and semi-State body; the number of apprentices employed by each local authority; the number of apprentices that have been employed across the public sector in each of the years since 2011 and the number of apprentices...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 509 and 512 together. The number of registered apprentices on each programme, including craft apprentices, as per the end of October in tabular form is set out at the link. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of craft apprentices who have been registered for over two or four years, in the cases of those registered on two-year...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: Apprenticeships are employer led demand driven educational and training programmes that aim to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. As apprentices are employees, the demand for and number of apprentices is primarily dictated by the employers in any area or sector. As per the end of October 4,937 apprentices were waiting over six...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: Apprenticeship is a demand driven educational and training programme which aims to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. The development of new apprenticeships is employer-led, with consortia comprising employer groups and educational providers coming together to identify a skills need and appropriate apprenticeship response in their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I understand that Galway Roscommon ETB (GRETB) have submitted an application for the establishment of FET college in Galway city under the FET College of the Future funding programme, a new capital investment programme for the FET sector This capital investment programme will support additional capacity, upgrading and enhancement of infrastructure in the FET sector, in line with the FET...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: The fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the student's access route including previous education. For full time undergraduate students, under my Department’s free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding toward the tuition fee costs of eligible undergraduate higher education students with students paying the student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: Under the Further Education and Training Act (2013), SOLAS has statutory responsibility for planning, funding, and co-ordinating Further Education and Training (FET) in Ireland. My officials have referred your query to SOLAS for direct reply on this individual matter. If you do not receive a response from SOLAS within 30 days, please do come back to my office for further follow-up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Chairperson and committee members for inviting me to attend today and providing me with the opportunity to update members on some of the work under way by my Department. Many members will already know, and as the Chair has alluded to, this issue is a major motivating issue for me. It is one on which the country has been making significant progress. We are improving educational...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I should have said in my opening comments that the first thing I am conscious of when attending a meeting of the Joint Committee on Autism is the breadth of the spectrum, which the Deputy reminded me of when he talked about students who transition from second level to third level, and we can all think of examples of this in our lives and communities. For autistic people, just like any of us,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I join with Deputy Ó Cathasaigh in commending DCU on its work on an autism-friendly campus. I know that is something that runs very deep in DCU. Everyone gets funding in phase 1 of the €3 million programme. Similar to yesterday, we announced the student assistance fund or mental health funding, and people get it in proportion to the number of enrolled students. I have a list...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I agree very much with Deputy Collins’s analysis. The answer to her first question is that these are programmes we want to start funding from next September. What we are trying to do is effectively set up three-year pilots and then at the end be able to evaluate what worked, what did not work and what could be improved. That is the timeline. On the second point, Deputy Collins...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: Not that I am aware of in my Department, but I am pretty sure people working in the health service, for example, would be the policy responsibility of the Department of Health. I will take the Deputy's suggestion back and seek the view of the Department on it and come back to her.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism: Autism Policy in Education: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I presume if that was the answer to the parliamentary question it is the full factual position, but I will double-check for her. It is worth stating the role of my Department versus the role of other Departments. I effectively see my Department as a bit of a service provider from a public service point of view. A line Department can come to my Department and say it...