Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she has plans to ensure that the fee paid to psychologists under the SCPA will be increased; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6099/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). The SCPA was established, pending the expansion to all schools of the service provided by NEPS psychologists, specifically to undertake assessments with individual children and young people. School are allowed annual access the scheme at a level commensurate with 2% of school enrolment. A panel of private psychologists was established and has been refreshed annually and currently has 141 psychologists listed.

During the 2006/07 academic year some 4,426 assessments, a 10% increase on the previous year, were carried out under the scheme and paid for by my Department at a cost of approximately €1.46m. In 2007/08 to the end of January claims for some 1,731 assessments have been processed under the scheme, this figure is well in line with the number processed in this period of the preceding year. The matter of the level of the fee per assessment, some €330, is being kept under on-going review.