David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to make changes to the home tuition and July provision schemes; the budget allocated for all the home tuition schemes for 2012; if he has details of the number of tutors delivering tuition under this scheme this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3170/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department's home tuition scheme provides funding to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement and also to provide early educational intervention for pre-school children with autism. A separate strand of the home tuition scheme provides for children who are unable to attend school for reasons other than medical condition or special education needs.

This latter scheme includes cases where a child is currently without a school placement or the offer of a school placement. My Department is currently reviewing operational elements of the home tuition schemes, including the appointment of tutors. The number of tutors who have been approved to deliver tuition in the 2011/2012 school year to date is 1,157. The scheme cost €10, 348,098 in 2011. The Deputy will be aware that provisional figures for expenditure in my Department for 2012 have been published. However the process is not yet finalised therefore the actual allocation for the scheme is not currently available.

The July Education Programme is available to all special schools and mainstream primary schools with special classes catering for children with autism who choose to extend their education services through the month of July. My Department also provides for a July Programme for pupils with a severe/profound general learning disability. Where school based provision is not feasible, home based provision may be grant aided.

The Deputy may be aware that the scheme is currently under review. Future improvements to the administration of the scheme will be considered in the context of this review.