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 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.

Under the terms of the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, one of the functions of the Board is to conduct and commission research into the reasons for non-attendance on the part of students and into the strategies and programmes designed to prevent it. Ongoing activities of the Board include the development of a Code of Behaviour Guidelines and Attendance Strategies for Schools.

As detailed in my earlier response on this matter analysis of data for Co Mayo in 2004/05 indicates that in the Primary Sector 9.2% of pupils were absent for 20 days or more, while at Post Primary level the corresponding figure was 17.1%. These figures compare favourably with the national average for pupils absent for more than 20 days which is 10% at primary level and 18.8% at post primary level. I am informed by the NEWB that there is currently one Educational Welfare Officer assigned to the Mayo area and that an extra half post is to be allocated to the area pending the completion of the recruitment process currently under way for the 15 additional posts allocated to the Board last year.

This government is determined to do all that is possible to ensure that every child gets all the opportunities and support they need to enable them to achieve their potential and participate fully in education. It must be remembered also that the service provided by the NEWB is just one aspect of the comprehensive framework that this Government has put in place to support schools, families and young people themselves. 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 in education disadvantage programmes of which over 130 are additional posts allocated under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) the action plan for educational inclusion which provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Completion Programme (SCP) is a preventative measure designed to combat issues of poor attendance and early school leaving.

School attendance is a central objective of SCP with targeted interventions for children at risk of early school leaving through a variety of extra supports aimed at encouraging them to stay in school. These supports cover both educational and non-educational interventions and are provided during and outside of school time. The Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) works to involve parents in their children's education which is a crucial component in convincing young people of the value of education.

Work is ongoing to develop appropriate protocols for all agencies and services to work together in collaboration. This approach aims to develop the delivery of services in a cohesive way and ensure that optimum use is made of all resources deployed including the resources of the NEWB.