Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 325: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the protocols that exist between her Department and the Health Service Executive in relation to children who are in the care of the HSE who have fallen out of school to ensure they receive a basic minimum education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35869/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 established the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) as the single statutory 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 Board operates through 5 regional teams, with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. A service is provided from 26 locations nationwide. Staff are deployed in areas of greatest disadvantage and in areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme. In addition, the Board follows up on urgent cases nationally where children are not currently receiving an education. 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. EWOs play a pivotal role in implementing the service provided by the NEWB through monitoring school attendance and working to improve it. The EWOs help parents and guardians who are experiencing a difficulty with getting a school place for their child and work with local agencies in prioritising children's needs.

The NEWB has informed me that it prioritises its service to address the educational welfare needs of the most vulnerable children and young people who are out of school and /or have no school place and that children in care receive priority attention as a vulnerable group. I am advised that the Educational Welfare Staff of the Board work closely with the HSE Social work staff addressing the educational welfare needs of individual children in care.

In addition many children who are excluded from school benefit from the Home Tuition Scheme which is sanctioned by my department. This initiative makes funding available to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement and also to provide early educational intervention for pre-school children with autism. A total of 628 children have been sanctioned for Home Tuition in the 2007/08 school year.

This government is committed to supporting the work of the Board and my Department has sanctioned an additional 15 staff to the NEWB in 2007. This brings the current authorised staffing of the Board to 109 posts of which 90 are allocated to working directly in the service delivery area. The staffing complement is comprised of 19 HQ and support staff, 5 regional managers, 13 Senior EWOs and 72 EWOs.

It should, however, be remembered that the service provided by the Board is just one aspect of the comprehensive framework that this Government has put in place to improve school attendance and encourage more young people to finish school. In this regard, extra supports targeted at young people in disadvantaged areas include both educational initiatives such as intensive literacy programmes and the provision of breakfast and homework clubs. In fact, in addition to the NEWB, there are currently in excess of 620 staff within the education sector with a role in school attendance. Home School Community Liaison Coordinators, in working with parents, promote school attendance and its importance for success in school. School attendance is a central objective of the School Completion Programme with attendance tracking a core feature and one of its preventative strategies. Access to these services is being increased with the continued rollout of services under DEIS the Action Plan for tackling educational disadvantage.