Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 706: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of assessments carried out in each county each year by the National Education Psychological Service since its establishment; the number of private assessments carried out in the same period; the number and grades of professional staff employed by NEPS; the average number of schools each individual NEPS psychologist caters for; the amount of funding provided by her Department to NEPS each year since establishment;; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27904/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought in relation to numbers of assessments is not readily available on a per county basis from the records of my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). However, this information is being collated at present as part of a general review of information systems in NEPS and I shall provide the Deputy with a copy of the information when it becomes available.

Meanwhile, according to existing information, the following is the total number of assessments, by school year, carried out by NEPS psychologists for the years in question:

Not all assessments involved full cognitive 1Q assessments. The figures relating to the period 2002/2003 to 2004/2005 may be subject to some changes in the context of the information review exercise to which I have referred.

In 2004, NEPS was also involved in a verification process of over 5,000 children for additional resources prior to the appointment of Special Education Needs Organisers (SENOs) by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and prior to the new general allocation model put in place for schools in the context of additional teaching resources.

In addition to the above figures, in excess of 15,000 children were assessed under the SCPA scheme since its inception in 2001 to the end of the calendar year 2005.

The numbers and grades of professional staff currently employed in NEPS is as follows:

Acting Director — 1

Regional Director — 8

Senior Psychologist — 50

Educational Psychologist — 60

Ex National Rehabilitation Board (NRB), 1

Principal Psychologist and 2 Senior

Psychologists — 3

Total — 122.

This total includes 1 psychologist serving with another Section in my Department. Also, a number of these posts are filled on a work-sharing basis. The Public Appointments Service recently concluded a new recruitment competition for the appointment of Educational Psychologists to NEPS. Regional panels have been established to allow my Department give greater priority in filling vacancies to areas with the greatest need. It is expected that a further 9 psychologists will be in place before the end of 2006.

NEPS psychologists are assigned to schools on the basis of total school population, the geographical distribution of schools and on the basis of a weighting given to schools designated as disadvantaged. Therefore, the number of schools allocated to a psychologist in a highly urbanised area will differ from the number of schools allocated where there is a wide dispersal of small schools. In that context, an average figure is not meaningful. In urbanised areas the range in the number of schools can vary typically from 15 schools to 20 schools. In a rural area the range will vary between 25 and 40. These figures do not take into account psychologists availing of work sharing schemes where the numbers of schools are allocated accordingly.

The financial outturn for NEPS for each year since its establishment was:

The financial provision for 2006 for NEPS in my Department's Estimates is €15.425 million.