Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 812: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if design teams have been appointed in regard to new schools (details supplied) and for the extension to a school. [11056/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In January of this year, I announced details of 62 projects which were being given the go-ahead to proceed with major works such as new school building projects, extensions or refurbishment. The first step for these schools is the appointment of an architectural team that will design and plan the works.

As a result of changes to the EU directive for the appointment of consultants, effective from 31 January 2006, the school building section has had to revise its guidance documents in regard to the appointment of design team consultants.

This exercise will be completed shortly and the roll-out of advertisements seeking design team consultants for individual school building projects will follow on immediately thereafter.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 813: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the various stages involved in the provision of new schools or extensions to schools. [11057/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the traditional method of procuring school buildings, design team procedures comprise nine stages. During the early stages of architectural planning of projects, stages 1 to 3, the design and planning of the project is developed from the assessment of site suitability through to the detailed design. Stages 1, 2 and 3 are combined for many projects.

The more advanced stages of architectural planning, stages 4 and 5, involve the obtaining of planning permission and the preparation of pre-tender documents. Stages 4 and 5 are combined for the vast bulk of projects. Stages 6 to 9 relate to the procurement of tenders, the placing of contracts, the commencement of construction and post-contract cost control.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department has moved towards greater devolution of the management and delivery of large-scale school building projects to school authorities. The main advantage is that my Department will be in a position to respond more quickly to building needs, having regard to the level of funding available. The processes involved will also reduce the number of stages through which a project must proceed in architectural planning. Chief among new initiatives in this area is the small schools scheme — 135 primary schools will benefit under the scheme this year alone. Funding of over €54 million is being allocated to the schools concerned — double the amount allocated in 2005 and four times the 2004 amount. The number of schools being invited to participate in the scheme has increased by 40% and the rate of funding for individual schools is being increased, on average, by 20%. Grants under the scheme now range from €275,000 to €820,000 depending on school size and the type of works involved. The small schools scheme, which is aimed at primary schools of up to four teachers where enrolment numbers are stable, will address accommodation requirements over the next decade.

Over €19 million is being provided to 75 schools this year under the permanent accommodation scheme so that they can deliver additional small scale permanent classroom accommodation.

Some 740 schools will spend €78 million on refurbishment works under the summer works scheme in 2006. Since the scheme commenced three years ago, almost 2,000 projects have been carried out in schools at an overall cost in excess of €179 million.

A devolved grant scheme for minor works is also provided. The primary responsibility for health and safety in school buildings rests with school management authorities. Approximately €18 million in respect of all primary schools is issued each year under this devolved grant. Each primary school gets a standard rate of €3,809 together with rate of €12.70 per pupil.

Apart from devolved initiatives, the school building section of my Department also uses the design and build approach to deliver new buildings as expeditiously as possible. An example of this approach is the delivery of a new 16-classroom primary school in Lucan. The total time taken to complete the project, including design time, was 13 months. The design and build approach will now be piloted at post-primary level with the development of an 800 pupil school in Dublin 15.

Standard-generic designs have also been developed by the building unit of my Department for eight and 16-classroom schools. It is expected that use of these designs, wherever possible, will yield substantial savings in terms of design team fees as well as reducing the time taken to bring projects to completion.

In addition to these developments, I will be providing 23 new post-primary schools and four new primary schools under a major expansion of the Government's public private partnership programme from 2006-09. The projects targeted for delivery involve new schools in rapidly developing areas, replacements for existing schools and new accommodation for schools formed by the amalgamation of existing schools. The first schools bundle under this programme will go to the market in the first half of 2006.