Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 42: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of education welfare officers employed by the National Educational Welfare Board; their geographical location; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19850/06]

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 68: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the average caseload for each education welfare officer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19834/06]

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 79: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of education welfare officers appointed in 2005 and to date in 2006; her proposed timeframe to fully resource the Education Welfare Board and permit them to employ the full cohort of education welfare officers to carry out their statutory duty; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19897/06]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 80: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if additional or supplementary funding will be allocated to the national educational welfare board over the remainder of 2006; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19849/06]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 42, 68, 79 and 80 together.

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) was established under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 as the single national body with responsibility for school attendance. The Act provides a comprehensive framework promoting regular school attendance and tackling the problems of absenteeism and early school leaving. The general functions of the Board are to ensure that each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education.

The budget allocated to the NEWB for 2006 is €8.15m. This allocation represents an increase of more than 25% since 2004 to support it in delivering on its key objectives. To discharge its responsibilities, the Board is developing a nationwide service on a continuing basis that is accessible to schools, parents/guardians and others concerned with the welfare of young people. For this purpose, Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) have been appointed and deployed throughout the country to provide a welfare-focused service to support regular school attendance and discharge the Board's functions locally.

The total authorised staffing complement of the Board is 94 comprising 16 HQ and support staff, 5 regional managers, 12 senior educational welfare officers and 61 educational welfare officers. This number includes an additional 10 posts which were filled in September 2005. In deploying its service staff, the NEWB has prioritised the provision of services to the most disadvantaged areas and most at-risk groups. Five regional teams are in place 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 providing an intensive full level of service. For all remaining areas the NEWB deploy their staff on a regional basis providing various levels of service.

Towns which have an educational welfare officer allocated to them include Dundalk, Drogheda, Navan, Athlone, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Bray, Clonmel, Tralee, Ennis, Sligo, Naas, Castlebar, Longford, Tuam, Tullamore, Letterkenny and Portlaoise. In addition, the Board will follow up on urgent cases nationally where children are not currently receiving an education. Since September 2005 every county in Ireland is served by an educational welfare service.

I have been informed by the Board that the current average caseload of each EWO is 131. This shows a reduction from the number reported in July 2005 when the average was 164. This can be accounted for by the filling of 10 additional EWO posts in September 2005. The Board is continuously reviewing its procedures for prioritising children and families who require intervention, in order to ensure that children with the greatest level of need gain maximum benefit from available resources, and to work with local agencies in prioritising children's and family needs.

In addition to the NEWB personnel there are some 490 staff, within the education sector, deployed in education disadvantage programmes whose work involves an element of school attendance. My Department is anxious to ensure that the maximum benefit is derived from these substantial personnel resources. Consequently work is ongoing to develop appropriate protocols for all agencies and services to work together in collaboration and to ensure that optimum use is made of the resources deployed.

I will be keeping the issue of the NEWB's budget allocation and staffing under review in light of the rollout of services, the scope for integrated working and any proposals that the Board may put to me in relation to clearly identified priority needs and in the context of Government policy on public service numbers.