Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 291: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children in primary and secondary schools in the Cork south west constituency who were absent from school for more than 20 days in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7157/08]

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 and Attendance Strategies for Schools.

The first national data on school attendance has been collected and is being used to inform the Board's work. In relation to the effectiveness of the service, it is encouraging to note research findings indicate that attendance at school in the areas where EWOs are working intensively improved with the mean percentage of students absent 20 days or more having decreased by over 4% in 2004/05 compared with the previous year. The NEWB collects data for absences over 20 days. The first year data collected on an individual county basis was for the 2004/05 school year.

In relation to the Deputy's specific question relating to student absenteeism in the Cork South West constituency, I am informed that data in the format requested is not available on the basis of constituency breakdown. There is however data available for Co. Cork in respect of the 2004/2005 school year. Analysis of this data indicates that 7.4% of primary pupils were absent for more than 20 days during that school year. The figure for post-primary pupils was 12.5% for the same period. These figures compare favourably with the national averages for pupils absent for more than 20 days which are 10% and 18.8% for primary and post primary respectively.

The 2005/06 data is currently being prepared by the NEWB for publication and the 2006/2007 data has not yet been analysed.

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 quality 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.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 292: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of education welfare officers assigned to schools in the Cork south west constituency; if there are vacancies for education welfare officers in Cork south west; if so, the number of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7158/08]

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 runs promotional campaigns on the importance of attendance and finishing school and provides a service locally through its Education Welfare Officers to parents, children and schools.

An additional 15 staff were allocated to the NEWB in 2007. The recruitment for these extra posts is ongoing and I am informed that this will be finalised shortly. This increases the authorised staffing of the Board to 109 posts in total of which 90 are allocated to working directly in the service delivery area. The recruitment of these extra staff to the NEWB will continue to strengthen local delivery and contribute to improving the coverage in respect of services provided by the Board. The ongoing allocation of posts will continue to be evaluated in light of operational experience and identified need. The staffing complement is comprised of 19 HQ and support staff, 5 regional managers, 13 Senior EWO's and 72 EWO's. The financial allocation to the Board in 2008 is €10.119 million.

In relation to the deputy's specific query concerning the deployment of educational welfare service staff in the Cork South West constituency, I am informed by the Board that the deployment of officers does not correspond with constituency boundaries. However Co Cork is one of the regional areas of the Board and there are eight EWOs currently assigned to this region. One of these posts has been assigned specifically to cater for the Cork South West area, while two others have responsibility for certain schools in this area also. There is also a Senior EWO deployed by the Board in Cork who has specific responsibility for the eight officers assigned to Co.Cork.

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 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 within my Department to develop appropriate protocols for the 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.

I will be keeping the issue of resources for the NEWB 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.