Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the degree to which higher education grants have been paid up to date or otherwise by vocational education committees or local authorities on a county basis throughout the country to date in respect of 2010; the number outstanding from previous years; her plans to streamline, update and expedite the process in the coming year in view of the hardship caused by delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24021/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The following table details the latest information on the number of new applications awaiting decisions. The information has been supplied to my Department by the local authorities and the Vocational Education Committees. The information in relation to the applications outstanding from previous years is not available in the format requested by the Deputy as the process of paying third level or further education grants is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC. The timing of payment varies between the 66 awarding bodies depending on a number of variables including the volume of applications received, staffing resources and whether or not properly completed application forms have been received.

I am very conscious of the difficulties created both for grant awarding authorities and for individual students following the unprecedented surge in student grant applications in 2009. Therefore, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have prioritised a range of initiatives to facilitate speedier processing of grant applications in 2010.

This includes the introduction of a new, greatly simplified, application form and explanatory notes, which were made available on the studentfinance.ie website in recent weeks, considerably ahead of last year's timeframe. In addition, I published the grant schemes for 2010 last week, some months ahead of the publication date last year.

My Department is currently working closely with the VECs and local authorities to advance development of a scaleable on-line application facility for which tenders have already been sought. My Department is also examining the possibilities for a further roll-out of payments to students by way of electronic funds transfer which proved very successful in the pilot phase in 2009/10.

The issue of cash flow for grant awarding authorities has also been addressed by my Department through the introduction of an advance payment arrangement.

Taken together, I am hopeful that all of these measures should serve to assist awarding authorities in the earlier and more efficient processing of student grants this year.