Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the amount of money spent on an annual basis on education and training of staff in 2011 and to date in 2012; the number of staff that availed of each course; if he will provide a list of the courses staff undertook and the cost of each course per person. [38489/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Meeting the learning and development needs of both the Department and its staff is primarily the responsibility of the Corporate Learning Unit (CLU). There are, however, a number of areas within my Department, such as the Probation Service and the Forensic Science Laboratory, which have their own Training Units because of their specialist training needs. The programme of training provided by CLU includes: formal classroom training within the Department, such as, a Middle Managers DevelopmentProgramme, soft skills training, IT end-user training, health and safety training, etc; the attendance of staff on public courses, seminars and conferences, and refunds to staff under the Refund of Educational Fees Scheme.

I am advised that approximately 850 staff availed of this programme of training in 2011 and 380 to date in 2012, however, a breakdown of the information in the manner requested by the Deputy is not readily available and to provide such detail would require the allocation of a disproportionate and inordinate amount of staff time and resources.