Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 103: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the guidance he will provide to schools participating in the value for money review; the criteria under which they are being assessed; if he has received an application from a school (details supplied); if he has issued any opinion on the submission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7929/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As the Deputy will be aware, this review was initiated in October 2010 by the then Fianna Fáil/Green Party government in order to establish the value for money being achieved from State funding of small primary schools. This value for money review is part of the normal review processes undertaken by Departments on an annual basis on selected areas of expenditure. The terms of reference for the Steering Committee are published on my Department's website and accessed through the Featured Links on the home page.

It is not for schools to make applications as part of the review process. Rather, the invitation to the consultation process (published on my Department's website) contained guidance points for themes to cover in making submissions. In excess of 1,000 responses were received and these are currently being sorted and acknowledged. The Deputy will appreciate that in the context of this volume of submissions it is not feasible to respond substantively to each individual submission. However, all submissions will be read and their content will be considered when forming the recommendations of the review.

The terms of reference of the review are generic in nature and are relevant generally to all small primary schools with less than 50 pupils rather than individual schools. I do not have a pre-determined view on the outcome of the review. Educational quality for the pupils must be one of the main criteria in any consideration of primary school size and organisation, taking into account both the needs of local communities and wider social and cultural factors.

The review should be completed by the end of this year and I plan to consider the review's conclusions when it is finalised.