Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 37: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the full statutory remit of the National Education Welfare Board is being implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2970/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Since its formal launch in December 2003, the aim of the National Educational Welfare Board has been to provide an intensive service to the most disadvantaged areas and most at-risk groups. Five regional teams have been established with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and staff have been deployed 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. In addition, the board will follow up on urgent cases nationally where children are not currently receiving an education.

During the summer of 2004, the board undertook a survey on the levels of school attendance for the school year 2003-04. This is the first time that data on school attendance at national level have been collected. The findings of the survey support the targeting policy followed by the board to date in appointing educational welfare officers to the areas of greatest disadvantage.

Schools are required to refer students to the board who have been absent for over 20 days cumulatively during the school year, or where a school principal wishes to express concern about the attendance pattern of a particular student. Staff of the NEWB make contact with the school to establish reasons for the absences, and what steps have been taken to date by the school to improve the child's attendance. An educational welfare officer may then contact the parent in question to advise and support the parent regarding the need for the child to attend school regularly. In RAPID designated areas, EWOs offer an intensive service to schools and parents. Outside these designated areas, the NEWB offers an urgent service where cases of chronic absenteeism are followed up in consultation with schools.

In response to a request from the board my Department approved the recruitment of an additional ten staff in November 2004 to meet identified needs. The appointment of ten extra staff to counties which up to now have not had the benefit of the presence of an EWO will enable the NEWB to extend the intensive service.

The board has also moved to provide a service to families who decide to have their children educated in places other than in recognised schools. A small number of people with the appropriate skills have been allocated to this work and a number of assessments have now taken place. The Department issued guidelines in 2003 to assist the board in meeting its responsibilities in this area. Work is also proceeding on the establishment of the register for 16 and 17 year olds who leave school to enter employment.

Guidelines were issued by the NEWB last month to all primary and post-primary schools on reporting student absences. The guidelines provide step-by-step advice on how and when school attendance returns should be made and how the new website, www.schoolreturn.ie, can be used by schools to comply with their legal obligations to report student absences to the board.

The budget which has been allocated to the National Educational Welfare Board for 2005 is €7.8 million, an increase of €1.3 million or 20% on the 2004 allocation. The percentage increase allocated to the board for 2005 is more than double that for the education Vote as a whole and this provision will enable the board to continue to develop its services in 2005.