Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 288: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of circulars produced by his Department each year for the past five years; if such circulars were printed and posted to schools, if so, the cost of doing so each year for the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5187/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The number of circulars produced by my Department for the past five years are as follows:

For the years in question circulars were printed and posted to schools, VEC's and Third Level Institutions. The vast majority of these circulars were printed in the Department. The amount spent by my Department on posting circulars to schools etc. cannot be separated from the overall cost of postage including bulk postage issued from my Department. My Department's total expenditure on bulk postage, which is the general means of distributing circulars etc, for the years in question is as follows:

This figure includes the cost of posting a variety of materials to schools and teachers including circulars, payslips (approximately 2.1 million payslips are issued annually), publications, etc. It should also be noted that my Department agrees on occasion to circulate relevant materials produced by other organisations to schools, and that therefore the postage cost given above does not exclusively relate to material emanating from my Department.

My Department regularly reviews its postage arrangements with a view to achieving maximum value for money. In this regard, my Department introduced a system of regular bulk mailings to schools in order to avail of discounted rates and to minimise postal costs. In addition, the rollout of the Department's Online Claims System, which enables schools to submit claims electronically to the Department, has resulted in a reduction in postage costs at both Department and school level of approximately €500,000 per annum. In a further effort to reduce the costs of printing and distribution of publications in 2009 it is now corporate policy within my Department that all publications will be web based and will only be printed and distributed by post in exceptional circumstances.