Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action he has taken to improve the processing system for student grant applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16750/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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An external review of Student Universal Support Ireland's business processes is currently being undertaken to inform improvements in the system for the 2013/14 academic year. The review is at an advanced stage and is currently being finalised by Accenture the company carrying out the review.

In advance of the review SUSI is currently undertaking various measures to improve the processing system for 2013/14. In order to reduce the volume of documents required to be supplied by applicants SUSI is currently liasing with other public service organisations such as Revenue and the CAO with a view to putting arrangements in place to facilitate block transfer of data directly from organisation to organisation in compliance with data protection requirements. Also next year it is proposed that applicants will be able to track the progress of their application online.