Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to come before the House to discuss the restructuring of the vocational education committees. Before I outline the details of the Government's decision, it is important to outline briefly the background to the vocational education committee system and their current role and pay tribute to the ground-breaking and innovative contributions the committees and many dedicated and committed staff who served on them have made to the State since their inception some 80 years ago.

Vocational education committees, VECs, were established under the Vocational Education Act 1930 and operate principally in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act 2001. They are linked to the local authority structure in the area concerned. Each committee comprises members nominated by the elected members of the relevant local authority, urban district councils within the county area, parents of students under 18 years who are registered as students at recognised schools or centres of education established or maintained by the VEC in question and members of the staff of the VEC. Each VEC has a chief executive officer responsible for the administration and management of the staff and functions of the VEC.

VECs have a range of important roles and functions. Under the Education Act 1998 they are the legal patrons of second level schools, commonly called vocational schools or community colleges, that they maintain. These schools educate approximately 29% of all post-primary pupils.

VECs have an important role in the community and comprehensive school sectors. In community schools they are co-patrons with religious authorities, while in comprehensive schools, the CEO is a member of and ex officio secretary to the board of management. Comprehensive and community schools together educate approximately 16% of the second level population.

VECs play a central role in the provision of adult and further education programmes, including post-leaving certificate courses, the back to education initiative, community education, the Youthreach programme, the vocational training opportunities scheme, as well as the adult education guidance initiative and child care measures.

Historically the VEC sector has been an important contributor to Government labour market interventions, originally in relation to high levels of youth unemployment in the 1980s and, most recently, in the provision of additional places under the post-leaving certificate and back to education initiative programmes as part of the Government's current labour market activation strategy. Other measures supported by the VECs are designed to promote social inclusion such as adult literacy courses and the senior Traveller training centres.

VECs distribute funding to schools in their area which participate in the DEIS disadvantaged schools programme and support education provision in prisons. In addition, they have recently become involved for the first time in primary education through the pilot community national schools programme. This new model of primary school provision is being piloted in counties Dublin, Kildare and Meath. If successful, it could be a framework to meet future demand for non-denominational education at primary level. The emergence of the community national school model is a specific example of the capacity of the VEC system to respond to needs identified by the Government and directly implement and deliver on Government initiatives.

There were originally 38 VECs. Following a process of rationalisation in the 1990s, which merged a number of town VECs with the VEC of the county concerned, this number was reduced to 33.

In July 2009, the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes recommended that the number of VECs could be reduced from 33 to 22 and aligned with the functional areas of the 22 local authorities that also were recommended by the group. On foot of this, in September 2009 the then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, invited interested parties to make written submissions regarding a reduction in the number of VECs. Arising from this process, the Government has decided that a greater reduction than suggested by the group is warranted to deal with the issues of scale and having regard to the current and prospective requirements of the education sector. Specifically, the Government has decided to reduce the overall number of VECs from 33 to 16 and has agreed on the merger of particular counties. Flexibility and responsiveness to changing and emerging needs has always been a central feature of the operation of VECs. A key strategic consideration that informed the Government's decision on the restructuring of VECs was the need both to retain and support this demonstrated capacity for flexibility and adaptability and to position the VEC sector to meet future challenges across the school sector generally. This reconfiguration has been framed on that basis.

The revised configuration for the VEC sector will be County Dublin and Dún Laoghaire, City of Dublin, City and County of Galway, City of Cork, County Cork, City of Limerick and counties Limerick and Kerry, City of Waterford, County Waterford and Tipperary South Riding, County Donegal, counties Wexford and Wicklow, counties Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare, counties Laois, Offaly and Westmeath, counties Louth and Meath, counties Cavan and Monaghan, counties Mayo and Sligo, counties Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford, as well as County Clare and Tipperary North Riding.

At the core of this restructuring is the need to address the current low scale and size of operations in particular VECs. Although a number of indicators could be used to identify the scale of operation of a VEC, such as size of budget, number of second level schools and enrolments in those schools for provision to leaving certificate level, the level of post-leaving certificate provision or the overall number of teachers, it is fair to state that a VEC's overall budget is the broadest measure of activity and includes adult education and other provision not captured under some of the other indicators.

At present, 20 of the 33 VECs have an overall budget that is less than €30 million and 15 of the 33 have five or fewer schools. Excluding City of Cork and Dún Laoghaire VECs, where school activity is concentrated heavily or exclusively on post-leaving certificate provision, total ordinary second level enrolment is below 1,500 in 11 out of 31 VECs. These data reveal a size and scale of operation of a significant number of existing VECs that make restructuring of the sector a key priority.

Under the revised structure, the smallest VEC will have a budget of €39 million and the median for the individual budget measure of scale of operations will move from €26 million at present to €59 million, with 13 of the 16 new VEC entities having a budget of €50 million or more. This new structure is designed to better position the sector to support the evolution of service delivery both in schools under the direct governance of a VEC and in the wider education sector. In particular, VECs can engage in the aggregated procurement of supplies and services to the potential benefit of all schools in their areas. Through these changes, the newly reformed VEC sector will be positioned to contribute even more significantly in driving improved outcomes from education and training provision within its own schools and centres and in other programmes and initiatives where it has involvement or linkages. These new, larger VECs will be better able to establish shared services and to provide support services to schools not just within the VEC sector but to primary schools and other second level schools in their areas. While the decision involves a significant departure from the present position, where there are one or more VECs in each county, the continuation of strong linkages between a new VEC and the counties that are merged to form it will be a fundamental feature of the new structure. Each county involved in a merger will have representation on the new VEC committee.

The titles to be given to the new VECs and how they may best reflect the identities of the merging counties is one of the detailed items that will be covered in the consultations with stakeholders. At present, the alignment of VECs with local authorities finds its principal expression through the presence of local authority members on VEC committees, as distinct from any particular overlapping of functions and service delivery. The foremost objective is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of education provision over and above aligning VEC functions with those of local authorities. The location of the headquarters of the new VECs will be determined later. This will require engagement by the Department with the VECs concerned. A number of factors will come into play, such as suitability of existing properties and capacity to cater for combined staffing, options for property disposals, relative scale and associated staff numbers of existing VECs, and whether headquarters options in an area are centrally located or at its boundaries.

This new reconfiguration can, over time, yield savings in the recurrent cost of the headquarter functions of VECs, which at present is of the order of €42 million in total, primarily comprising pay provision. The special group suggested savings of €3 million. The Government is satisfied that a saving of that order is reasonable in the medium term. Some of the likely savings from the restructuring of the VECs will come from the sale of existing VEC buildings. The potential revenue to be raised from the sale of these assets, however, is closely linked to the current state of the property market and it may not be possible to dispose of such buildings satisfactorily in the short term. These changes will require amendments to existing legislation, new legislation or both and drafting will now commence on the heads of relevant legislative provisions for submission to the Government. Implementation also will involve consultation and negotiations with all the relevant stakeholders, including trade unions representing staff in the VEC sector, regarding the detailed implementation of the Government's decision. These discussions will commence as soon as possible.

I stress that no overarching or outside body will be involved in implementing these changes. No board will be established and no director's post will be created to manage the change. Implementation of these changes will be carried out by officials of the Department of Education and Skills working directly with the VECs and other stakeholders. This major project will have a timeframe for implementation of approximately 18 months. I hope this information is useful to Members and I look forward to a constructive debate.