Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 164: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills when the Student Support Bill will be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39170/10]

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 169: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills her plans to introduce a centralised grants agency to replace the present multiple agency system in light of the increased number of applications; the savings projected to result from the creation of a single agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39394/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 169 together.

The Deputy will be aware that, in line with the Transforming Public Services agenda, it is intended that the student grants administration process will be streamlined to create one consolidated student grant scheme to be administered by a single grant awarding authority. The main objective of this reform of the administrative arrangements is to bring about greater simplicity and efficiency to the system. The new administrative arrangements will be fully customer focused to ensure the efficient and timely delivery of grants to those students who demonstrate an entitlement.

The Student Support Bill, due to progress to Committee Stage shortly, will provide an enabling legislative framework for the provision of all student grants, facilitating the creation of the single consolidated grants scheme and underpinning the reform and streamlining of administration procedures for the management of the grant awarding process. This reform programme has the potential to deliver a significant service enhancement benefit to student grant applicants through streamlined processes, greater consistency in dealing with applications, faster processing due to economies of scale and full implementation of the on-line applications system introduced in September 2010. It is anticipated that it will also deliver substantial administrative cost savings beyond the initial transitional phase. The extent of savings in each area will depend on the implementation mechanisms to be agreed following selection of the single grant awarding authority.