Results 14,341-14,360 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Guidelines on Obesity (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department is very proactive in the area of health and well-being in schools. The issue of promoting healthy eating is addressed in schools through subjects such as Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE), and Home Economics as well as in Physical Education. The aim is to equip them with such skills and knowledge to enable them to make appropriate choices. This informed approach...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Physical Education (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: All schools are required to deliver physical education as part of the curriculum. Primary schools are required to deliver a minimum of 1 hour per week while post primary schools are required to deliver a minimum of 2 hours per week. Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025 is the national framework for whole of Government and whole of society action to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Funding in my Department to support curriculum reform varies from year to year and is spread across a number of areas of the Department’s expenditure allocation. The breakdown of information requested by the Deputy in respect of the last ten years is not readily available and would take an inordinate amount of time to compile. However, I can advise the Deputy regarding certain key...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The level of extra teaching support provided in respect of language support to schools is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and the associated levels of those pupils' language proficiency. Reforms introduced in the 2012/13 school year created a single simplified allocation process for both learning and language support. At primary level, learning/language support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (23 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 data....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: International Study Opportunities (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 and 191 together. The position is that under my Department's free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding towards tuition fee costs in respect of eligible students who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study. The main conditions of the scheme are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia EU/EEA/Swiss...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, the Department recently met with representatives of the school referred to and it was agreed that a further meeting would be convened within the coming weeks. It was agreed that this would allow adequate time for updated demographic data, taking into account overall current and projected pupil numbers in the area, and the enrolment position in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Junior Cycle Reform (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Through comparing education systems internationally, it has been found that in high performing systems such as New Zealand, Queensland, Estonia and Finland, schools have been given greater autonomy and flexibility in the programmes they offer. When schools in Ireland are implementing the new Framework for Junior Cycle, they too have the autonomy and flexibility to design programmes within...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The cost per year for the past three years for the retrieval and return of files from the Department's off-site location is outlined as follows. The cost is inclusive of VAT. 2016 - €34,018.11, 2015 - €35,111.58, 2014 - €36,978.56

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Expenditure (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The information requested by the Deputy is available in the following table. Further information on this is available in indicators B1 and B3 of the OECD's Education at a Glance report, available at the following link. . B3.3: Annual public expenditure on public* educational institutions per student (2013) (In equivalent US$ converted using purchasing power parities for GDP) - Primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Applications (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an external environment project (Category 10) application under the Summer Works Scheme (2016-2017) from the school to which he refers. Nearly 50% of schools have applied for inclusion under the scheme which reflects a very high demand. Details of successful school applicants in respect of Categories 1 and 2 were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Expenditure to date on cloud computing since its adoption by my Department in 2015, has amounted to €24,699 (exclusive of VAT). No other costs were incurred by my Department in the past three years, in respect of third-party data or file storage.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Regulatory Impact Assessment Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that where legislation has an impact on the regulatory environment, a RIA is carried out and published on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for organising and planning provision for children with Special Educational Needs, including establishing special classes in mainstream primary and post primary schools. Special classes offer a supportive learning environment to students with ASD who are unable to access the curriculum in a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 200 and 201 together. Schools are not required to report to my Department on the number of applicants who are refused enrolment and, therefore, the information requested by the Deputy is not available. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Narcolepsy Issues (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department has provided information to all schools in regarding the condition of Narcolepsy, likely symptoms and the effect of the condition of Narcolepsy on students. The information provided for schools also set out the possible accommodations which can be made for children with Narcolepsy in schools.  The purpose of providing such information to schools was to increase...

Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I make the general point that we have a very professional Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court which have huge experience and the idea of individual Ministers getting involved in industrial disputes is unwise in my view. We have been in close contact with the various bodies providing school transport to ensure, as best as possible, that we can protect that service. We are very...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Garda Station Refurbishment (22 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I am answering on behalf of the Tánaiste, who cannot be present. I thank the Senator for raising this issue. He will appreciate that the programme of replacement and refurbishment of Garda accommodation is progressed by the Garda authorities working in close co-operation with the Office of Public Works, which has responsibility for the provision and maintenance of Garda accommodation....

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Garda Station Refurbishment (22 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality has set out her plans within the confines of the existing budget. We are entering into a mid-term review of capital expenditure programmes and a public consultation process is under way. One of the key themes of the plan will be how to deliver sustainable regional and rural development. We will have to examine closely priority areas...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (22 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Senator for raising this matter. He knows the backdrop to the schools building programme. There are serious demand pressures exerted by a growing population such that we must provide approximately 15,000 extra places every year to meet increasing enrolments. On top of this, we replace about 5,000 places per annum, which absorbs virtually all of our budget. We are working hard...