Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 499: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the policy approach adopted by her Department in relation to facilitating single parents at both second and third level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6393/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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For young parents of schoolgoing age, the most pressing issues are considered to be a sensitive response to their needs, appropriate counselling, mentoring and medical assistance, minimum disruption of tuition, and appropriate access to child care. Individual circumstances will differ and accordingly, school management practice will vary from case to case. Generally, when it comes to the attention of the school that a pupil is pregnant, the school authorities check to ensure that the girl is receiving appropriate medical assistance and counselling advice. Schools endeavour to be sensitive and understanding to the girl's needs while trying to ensure that her education is not neglected. Home tuition is provided to pregnant schoolgirls who are absent from school during the later stages of pregnancy or immediately following the birth of a baby when attendance may be impractical.

Funding has been committed in 2008 for the education element of eight Teenage Parenting Support projects as a specific gender element of the School Completion Programme under DEIS in preventing early school leaving among teenage mothers. Links have been established between local School Completion projects in these areas, assisted by the SCP National Co-ordination Team and the Teenage Parenting Support Initiative Co-ordinators. The aim of these projects is to enable young women who are pregnant and young mothers to stay in second level education and to progress on to third level education or training. The Project does this by providing individual support, information and grinds where necessary. Young people participating in Parenting Support Programmes are targeted in-school, out-of-school and in higher/further education, giving them the opportunity to reach their full potential through continued participation in education and training. This will improve their life opportunities and reduce the likelihood of the young family experiencing poverty and social exclusion and being long-term dependants on State support. Single parents are target groups of two Further Education programmes, the Back to Education Initiative and the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme. Grants towards the cost of child care are given to VECs to be used to assist with the provision of child care support for learners in the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme, Youthreach, Senior Traveller Training Centres and in the Back to Education Initiative. The aim of this support is to attract people whose attendance is prevented by child care responsibilities to enrol on these programmes. Parents and guardians generally may avail of these grants.

A number of initiatives funded by the Department acknowledge the additional costs encountered by lower income students, including those with children, and support their participation in higher education. Major improvements have been made by this Government in both the income limits for eligibility and the actual grant levels for third level student support. This includes the introduction of the special rate of maintenance grant. The highest rate of this grant is now at a record level of €6,690 for the 2007-08 academic year — compared with just over €2,000 in 1996-97. To qualify for a special rate of maintenance income must be below a specified income threshold and the household income must include an eligible social welfare payment. The One-parent Family payment and the Back to Education Allowance, payable by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, are eligible payments for the special rate of maintenance grant. It should also be noted that both the One-parent Family payment and the Back to Education Allowance are excluded in the calculation of reckonable income for both the standard and special rate of maintenance grant.

The ESF aided Student Assistance Fund continues to be a vital avenue of financial support for students experiencing financial difficulties in third level institutions, assisting with such supports as rent, child care and food costs. A gross allocation of €6.219 million will be made in the current academic year for this fund. Some 9,886 students benefited from the Student Assistance Fund in 2005-6. In 2005 some institutions reported that up to 60% of their students were drawing on the Student Assistance Fund to meet child care costs incurred while they were in higher education. The Millennium Partnership Fund continues to support students from disadvantaged areas with regard to retention and participation in further and higher education. Contribution to the costs of child care for student parents is a key expenditure area of the Fund. The find, which is currently running at approximately €2 million per annum, is allocated to community partnerships and partnership companies participating in the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme.

Greater affordability of child care, linked to the creation of additional child care places, has been a key principle in both the previous and current National Development Plans. This Government has provided unprecedented levels of funding for child care in recent years. Some €499.3 million was allocated to the Equal Opportunities Child Care Programme 2000-2006 and some 41,000 places will have been created by the time the programme finishes. Child care provision will continue to attract substantial investment under the new national child care investment programme 2006-10. Some €575 million has been allocated to the new programme, which will be administered by the Office of the Minister for Children and aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care services by supporting the creation of an additional 50,000 places. This Government also introduced the Early Childhood Supplement of €1,000 per child under six to help parents with child care costs.

A large number of third level institution also provide crèche facilities, child care facilities while others have crèches adjacent to the campus. A number of Higher Education institutions were approved for grants for child care facilities under the Equal Opportunities Child Care Programme 2000-06, which is administered by the office of the Minister for Children. All the above initiatives support single parents to continue their studies at third level. The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents," put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of child care; improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low income families with young children. A sub-group of the Senior Officials Group on Social Inclusion, on which my Department is represented, is currently working on an implementation plan to progress the non-income recommendations. Work on the development of this implementation plan is progressing. Issues including access to child care support, education, training and activation measures continue to be discussed with the relevant Departments and Agencies. In this regard, my Department is co-operating with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Office of the Minister for Children and FÁS in testing the non-income activation proposals in Coolock in Dublin and in Kilkenny.