Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 118: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an outline of each service provided by FÁS which falls within the remit of her Department; the projected expenditure of FÁS in 2010 for each area; the number of persons employed by FÁS in the delivery of these services, the number of persons assisted in each area in 2009 and to date in 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38505/10]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is being researched. I will reply to him substantively in the matter as soon as possible.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons employed by the National Centre for Technology in Education; where personnel are based; the budget allocated to the NCTE; the way it will be used in 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38507/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the ICT in Schools Programme addresses four broad areas, namely: - the provision of essential ICT infrastructure and networking within schools- the provision of access to broadband connectivity to schools- continuous professional development in ICT for teachers- integrating ICT within the curriculum and providing curriculum relevant digital content and software.

As the Department's lead Agency for implementation of the Programme, the NCTE addresses each of these four areas in its work. It provides advice and support to schools in connection with some €43m in ICT Grants distributed since November 2009, and manages the engagement of schools with national procurement Frameworks. It funds the provision of a schools broadband service desk, which deals with any issues schools may have with their broadband service. Under its Teaching Skills Initiative, it offers a range of ICT related training programmes, providing more than 10,000 places annually (latest full-year figures indicate some 12,000 places were provided in 2009). The NCTE also funds the procurement of online digital reference content for schools and the operation of Scoilnet, the national portal for digital content in Irish Education. Scoilnet provides a central resource to teachers, pupils and parents, offering access to a growing repository of advice and information. The NCTE is currently running a programme of nationwide ICT in-service seminars for Post-Primary principals. Seminars for primary principals were also held.

In addition, the NCTE works with other organisations in the delivery of innovative pilot programmes (including the current deployment of 100Mbps broadband connections across a sample of 78 post-primary schools). The NCTE carries out its functions above with a staffing complement of 18 whole-time-equivalents, all based in Dublin City University in Dublin 9, and a budgetary allocation of €5.4m for the current year which includes the salary costs for all NCTE staff.