Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the policy change came into force which now prohibits qualified parents from providing July provision for their children; the reason behind this decision; the reason a person (details supplied) did not receive adequate notice of this change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36371/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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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 in cases where parents have to source and fund a qualified teacher to undertake the tuition. The cost of home based tuition is then reimbursed to the parents by my Department.

It has never been an expressed feature of this scheme that parents of a qualifying child, whether they are qualified teachers or otherwise, would qualify to act as the tutor for the purposes of this scheme. The expectation that parents should source a third party tutor is clear from the terms and conditions provided to applicants.

This year, my Department has, for clarification purposes, restated the requirement to source a teacher to deliver the home based provision. In exceptional circumstances where parents have exhausted all other options to secure a qualified teacher, approval may be considered. Requests for such exceptions have been considered by my officials on a case by case basis.

My Department has taken these steps, this year, to ensure that the scheme is managed prudently and effectively. An important feature of the scheme is the Department's ability to satisfy itself that the tuition has been delivered in line with the conditions of the scheme and that the substantial grants paid are used for the intended purpose. This can only be fully achieved by parents verifying that the tuition was delivered and by teachers verifying that they received the payments.

With regard to the case referred to by the Deputy, the parent in question was advised in mid-June of the need to attempt to source a qualified teacher to undertake the tuition in July.

However, as an exceptional matter, my officials included approval for her to act as tutor in the event that she was unsuccessful in her endeavours in this regard.