Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the projected number of education welfare officers to be recruited in 2004; the numbers currently employed by the NEWB; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14291/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The Education (Welfare) Act was fully commenced on 5 July 2002. Under the Act, the National Educational Welfare Board was established to ensure that every child attends school regularly or otherwise receives an education.

To discharge its responsibilities, the board is developing a nationwide service to provide welfare-focused services to children, families and schools. It has appointed a chief executive officer, directors of corporate and educational services together with a further eight head office staff. To date, 66 service delivery staff have been appointed. This figure is comprised of 53 educational welfare officers, nine senior educational welfare officers and four regional managers. It includes 29 former school attendance officers who transferred to the board from the pre-existing service.

As provided for under section 10 of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, I have arranged for officials of my Department to work with the board to ensure that any opportunities for integrated working between educational welfare officers and staff on other educational disadvantage programmes whose work involves a school attendance element are exploited to the maximum. I consider the implementation of protocols for such integrated working on attendance matters between the NEWB and, in particular, the home-school-community liaison scheme, the school completion programme and the visiting teacher service for Travellers to be very important. When in place, these will assist the NEWB in carrying out its remit and ensure that all available existing resources are utilised to the full. As I have stated previously, I consider it essential that the board should focus on ways in which it can deliver the service with the personnel it has at the moment and with the help of other people involved in the area. When this has been achieved, I will consider the position again taking into account the available resources.

At this stage of its development, the aim of the board is to provide a service to the most disadvantaged areas and most at-risk groups. Five regional teams have now been established with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and staff have been deployed since early December in areas of greatest disadvantage and in areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme. Thirteen towns with significant school going populations, 12 of which are designated under the Government's RAPID programme, also now have an educational welfare officer allocated to them. These towns are Dundalk, Drogheda, Navan, Athlone, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Bray, Clonmel, Tralee, Ennis, Sligo and Letterkenny. In addition, the board will follow up on urgent cases nationally where children are not currently receiving an education.