Results 9,601-9,620 of 45,539 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Investigations (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Civil servants recruited to my Department are subject to the Civil Service Code of Standards & Behaviour which outlines that in the course of their duties honesty, impartiality and integrity must be paramount. On commencing duty officials are presented with a suite of documents relating to their employment one of which is an I.C.T. Usage Policy which outlines the conditions they...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Quality and Qualifications Ireland (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Section 34 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act2019 was commenced on 8thNovember 2019. Section 34 of this Act amends Section 80 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012, which authorises the charging of fees for certain services provided by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the national agency...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Staff (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 451 and 452 together. In line with the Universities Act, 1997, third-level institutions have autonomy in relation to human resource policies, subject to compliance with Government policy in respect of employment numbers and pay policy. Employers in the higher education sector are also required to operate in accordance with the provisions of national...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Data (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The following table shows the total number of learner enrolments on level 5 pre-nursing courses from 2016-2020. Year Number of enrolments on level 5 pre-nursing courses 2020 3,699 2019 3,789 2018 3,911 2017 4,033 2016 3,582

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Data (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The information requested by the Deputy is not available to my Department. The basis on which a student is admitted to a course is not currently recorded on the HEA’s Student Records System (SRS) which is my Department’s primary source of student enrolment data. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous with regard to their academic affairs, including in relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Sign Language (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Higher Education Institutions are autonomous with regard to their academic affairs, including in relation to the degree programmes and modules they offer. It is my understanding that a number of HEIs currently offer courses or modules involving Irish Sign Language (ISL). Trinity College Dublin, through its Centre for Deaf Studies offers a number of courses that allow students to learn or...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Legal Costs (5 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The information requested by the Deputy, since the formation of my department, is not all readily available and is being collated by officials in my Department. A response will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Erasmus+ Programme (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: As part of an Erasmus+ mobility period, students are provided with an ‘individual support’ grant. This grant is a contribution towards their travel and living costs for the duration of their period abroad.   If, due to the pandemic, a student was forced to cancel their mobility and incurred expenses such as non-refundable flight costs, they may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The University of Limerick is an autonomous institution within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997. Under this legislation UL is independent and is entitled to regulate its own academic affairs and administrative processes, including in relation to graduations. It is not within my remit to intervene in these matters. Level 5 measures designate higher and further education as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Authority (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding to the institutions via the recurrent funding model. Top sliced, ring fenced funding for specific strategic or important purposes is a component of the funding model in addition to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The Student Grant Scheme is the principal support for students in financial terms by my Department. It provides grant assistance to eligible students attending approved full-time courses in approved further or higher educational institutions who meet the prescribed eligibility criteria of the relevant scheme. The Scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the national student grant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The provision of funding for Higher Education on an annual basis is part of overall expenditure management and budgetary policy. In 2021, exclusive of further education (programme A) and research allocations (programme C) total planned exchequer (programme B) and NTF funding of the HE sector for 2021 is in the order of €1.98billion. Calculations in relation to conventional measures...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Officials in my department are engaging with the HEA to confirm the allocations and the details will be communicated to the Deputy as soon as possible. Seperately my Department provides funding to institutions outside the remit of the HEA. Funding provided in the period 2014 to 2020 is outlined in the table below.

Residential Tenancies (Student Rents and Other Protections) (Covid-19) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Deputy Pringle will be relieved to know that I cannot sing. He will also know the biggest issue facing students is Covid-19, so he will excuse me for continuing to speak about it. If we get the next few days, weeks and months right, we will begin to address and rectify so many of the difficult and horrific challenges young people in this country have faced. I thank Deputy Ó Broin...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: EU Funding (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: REACT EU is a €47.5bn initiative under the European Recovery Instrument to respond to the impact of COVID-19 and to prepare a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy. The funding allocations are allocated in two tranches, for 2021 (80%) and 2022 (20%).  The allocations will  top-up existing 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes and Member States can allocate the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Nursing Education (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 732 and 775 together. The information requested by the Deputy on the quota for nursing students is available in the attached table. The figures are available from 2011 onwards as that is when funding for undergraduate nursing transferred to the HEA. The quota on EU nursing places is set by the Department of Health/HSE and any increases to the quota (as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The timeframes for the claiming of all tax reliefs, including those on third level fees, are set out by the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and are managed by the Revenue Commissioners. There are no current plans to revise these timeframes as they relate to tax relief on third level fees. However, these matters remain under review. Further information on the current tax relief scheme and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.  In relation to support available for students studying abroad, the Student Grant Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 735, 774 and 777 together. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the intake quota of medical students per year is available in the table attached. The Medical Education in Ireland: A New Direction report, known as the Fottrell Report (2006) outlined a recommended quota of EU and Non EU Medical Students. No further analysis has been conducted...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Erasmus+ Programme (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: According to the most up-to-date HEA figures, there are currently 1,026 students from Irish institutions abroad on Erasmus+.