Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 499: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount of the €10.085 million spent on the work of the National Educational Welfare Board in 2008 by his Department; the amount of this expenditure that relates to the work of education welfare officers working in the field, as against the administrative backup, either at a regional or national level, which underpins the work of the National Educational Welfare Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7619/09]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 established the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) as the 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 also has responsibility to conduct research into underlying causes for poor attendance and disseminating results of such research to assist schools in developing codes of behaviour and attendance strategies.

The Board's service has developed incrementally and there are currently 104 posts of which 85 are appointed in direct service delivery. The Board operates through 5 Regional Teams covering Dublin City; Leinster North; Leinster South; Munster and West/North West with service delivery personnel located at 29 locations nationwide. The service personnel is comprised of, 5 Regional Managers (RMs), 13 Senior Educational Welfare Officers (SEWOs) and 67 Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs). In addition to these there is one Director of Educational Services who has responsibility for and manages delivery of services through the five teams.

The budget allocation to the Board has also followed this incremental trend increasing from €4.310m in 2003 to €10.085m in 2008 as the service network developed. The Board's network of Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) is the key means by which the Board delivers on its statutory remit to ensure that each child attends and benefits from education. EWOs deal with approximately 10,000 cases, involving children with reported school attendance difficulties, per annum. Officers work closely with the family, the school and other support services to address the particular issues for each child. The needs of children can vary considerably from those who are not attending school, to those for whom there is no school place while in other cases, placement in an alternative education programme like Youthreach may be more appropriate. In exceptional cases where difficulties arise with placement home tuition hours, to facilitate ongoing minimum education until a suitable long term solution is put in place by the Board, is sanctioned by the Department.

In addition to case work on referrals from schools EWOs also provide assistance and advice to parents whose children experience school attendance difficulties by arranging for continuation of education through alternative placement or assisting with application for home tuition. They also work closely with schools offering advice and assistance on developing policies to encourage children to attend school regularly. At both school and community level EWOs work in co-operation with other agencies to integrate delivery of services to schools, families and children. Furthermore EWOs also handle queries relating to The Educational (Welfare) Act and on school attendance issues in general. Where required the EWO has responsibility to initiate legal proceedings under the Act to safeguard the educational welfare of a child.

The Board also has particular responsibility under the Act in terms of children who are educated in settings outside of a recognised school. Under Section 14 of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, parents of such children must apply to the Board to have their child registered and an assessment is then carried out. Such assessments are conducted in accordance with guidelines issued by my Department. The aim of the assessment is to ensure that each child receives "a certain minimum education".

The Board operates a Lo-call Helpline to inform parents and guardians about their legal role and responsibilities under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000. It is manned by EWO's and provides practical help to parents and schools on educational issues. 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. In 2008 the Board issued all schools with Guidelines on Developing a Code of Behaviour following a broad consultation with all stakeholders. The Board held the first national conference on school attendance and participation which examined Attendance Strategies for Schools. The conference was the first step in the development of guidelines to schools on school attendance strategies. Its main aim was to provide an in-depth understanding of the problem of absenteeism and then to explore strategies to address it.

With regard to the issue raised by the Deputy the annual cost of providing the services of the NEWB involves pay which is determined in accordance with standard public sector pay scales and additional overhead costs associated with service delivery which are met from the overall allocation to the Board. I am informed by the Board that its accounts for 2008 are provisional pending audit by the C&AG. I am also advised that pay costs for service delivery staff amounted to €4.882m and included pay costs for RMs, SEWOs, EWOs, LoCall Helpline and the Director Educational Welfare Services. In addition the pay costs for service delivery administration staff amounted to €417k which included head office and regional office personnel who provide direct administrative support for delivery of services to schools, parents and children.

Pay costs for core services personnel of the NEWB e.g. HR; Finance; IT and Corporate Services including the pay costs of the Chief Executive Officer amounted to €803k. The Board also has a number of retired personnel and the pension payroll accounted for €260k of the allocation for 2008.

The Board also advise that Non-Pay costs of €4.1m were incurred in 2008. Given that the greater portion of the pay costs of the Board are directly associated with service delivery, the greater proportion of non pay costs can also be associated with supporting the delivery of the Boards services. Non pay costs covered expenditure for rents, rates, light and heat, security, insurance, management fees and repairs & maintenance for 31 offices in 29 locations (Head Office, Dublin City Regional Office and Leinster North Regional Office are located at Green Street). Also included within the Non-Pay expenditure are costs for IT Systems & Communications Infrastructure, Landline & Mobile phones, Professional & Legal fees, Travel and Subsistence, Research & Promotions, Staff Training, Health & Safety, Postage & Stationary and Consultancy costs. The overall budget for the National Educational Welfare Board for 2008 amounted to some €10.485m which included the Grant allocation from the Department as well as a cash carryover.