Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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178. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number and location, by county, of education welfare officers; and if she will report on the efforts of her Department in addressing school absenteeism. [40024/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Within the statutory remit of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), the Education Welfare Service (EWS) has specific responsibility for the Board’s general function to ensure that each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education. The EWS has a current staffing complement of 74 officers delivering front line services, 2 of whom have distinct duties in relation to the education of children in places other than recognised schools.

Table 1 details the existing EWS distribution by regional office location, grade and officer numbers.

I am advised by the NEWB that the EWS worked with over 20,000 children in 2012, of which 2,420 were intensive interventions which required sustained support from an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) and a multidisciplinary approach in order to address the complex barriers to school attendance.

The NEWB is in the process of refining and implementing a new strategic approach to service delivery through the integrated working of its three service strands, namely; the Education Welfare Service (EWS); Home School Community Liaison Programme (HSCL – 402 school-based co-ordinators); and School Completion Programme (SCP – €26.456m in funding provided to support 124 school cluster projects and related initiatives). This integrated model of service will provide an enhanced response to the needs of children, families and schools. As part of this process the NEWB is also reviewing the basis on which the EWS was originally configured and a full consultation process is underway with EWS staff and their representatives to reconfigure and optimise service delivery to ensure an appropriate correlation between EWO resources, student population and their needs. I see this strategic national approach as a crucial reform in our efforts to tackle school absenteeism.

Vacancies that arise in staffing front line services for children and young people at risk of early school leaving are prioritised by my Department in so far as possible working within Government policy on public service numbers and the moratorium on recruitment.

The NEWB has a statutory remit to monitor school attendance. The Board's latest report on the Analysis of School Attendance Data, for the school year 2010 – 2011, is due to be published in November of this year. I understand that this latest data shows a continued improvement in student attendance from 09/10 and previous years. The number of school days being missed is at the lowest for the five year period 2006/07 – 2010/11 and while further improvements are required the positive trends over recent years are to be welcomed. This evidence further demonstrates the positive impact of targeted investment programmes to improving educational outcomes for children and the positive results that can be achieved through the collaborative efforts of schools, parents, statutory and support services.

Table 1