Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a reply will issue to an interim letter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48230/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Arrangements are underway in my Department for a response to issue to the correspondence referred to by the Deputy. In this regard the Deputy will be aware that guidance is a whole school activity and it does not just involve the guidance counsellor. Under existing arrangements each school develops a school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students.

Since September 2012 guidance provision is now being organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. In this way principals have discretion to balance guidance needs with the pressures to provide subject choice. A framework document was published jointly by the Post Primary Management bodies and the NAPD (National Association of Principals & Deputies) in September, 2012 to provide guidance for school management in the allocation of teaching hours to guidance counselling in post-primary schools in the context of the decision in Budget 2012 to withdraw the provision of ex-quota guidance hours to schools. This should be of assistance to schools in terms of how they maximise guidance provision.

My Department helped shelter the impact for DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations. All 195 second-level school in DEIS have been given targeted support by a more favourable staffing schedule of 18.25:1. This is a 0.75 point reduction compared to the existing PTR of 19:1 that applies in non fee-paying second-level schools (23:1 in fee-charging schools).

Confirmation both from initial findings of a recent comprehensive survey by the National Centre for Guidance in Education on schools provision for guidance and from schools on the ground would suggest that even though there has been a cut in the allocation schools continue to prioritise the guidance programme and within it have increased group-work and class-based activity at senior cycle. This approach maximises the amount of time available for those pupils that need one to one support.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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145. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when a reply will issue to an interim letter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48234/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that the reply below issued on 11 November.

Mr. Charlie McConalogue TD

Dáil Éireann,

Dublin 2.

PLEASE QUOTE REF NUMBER ON ALL CORRESPONDENCE.

Our Ref: 1304578 /SR

November 2013

Dear Deputy McConalogue

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, T.D., has asked me to refer again to your recent correspondence in relation to BeatBullying Ireland.

In this regard, please find attached a letter which issued to Mr. Niall Cowley of BeatBullying Ireland on the 6th November.

Yours sincerely,

_____________________

Ronnie Ryan

Private Secretary

An Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna

Sráid Maoilbhríde

Baile Atha Cliath 1

Department of Education and Skills

Marlborough Street

Dublin 1

Mr. Niall Cowley

Group International Director

The BB Group

Rochester House

4 Belvedere Road

London SE192AT

England

6 November 2013

Dear Mr Cowley,

I refer to previous correspondence and meetings in relation to extending the BeatBullying programme to Ireland and in particular to the revised proposal of June 2013 forwarded by you to my colleague, Deirdre McDonnell.

Your proposal and request for grant aid have been examined in the Department. Having reviewed the proposal, it would not be possible to approve grant aid for the proposed projectAs you will be aware, the Action Plan on Bullying, the Report of the Anti-Bullying Working Group to the Minister for Education and Skills, was published in January of this year. Hie Action Plan concluded that, taking into account all of die research reviewed and submissions and presentations received, no one particular anti-bullying programme should be recommended for schools in Ireland to use. Instead, the Action Plan recommended that the emphasis should be on the core principles that should underpin a school's approach to preventing and tackling bullying. These form the basis of the new Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-primary schools, which were published by the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, T.D., and made available to schools in September. This approach will be implemented in all schools over the coming year. The new procedures are designed to take a whole school approach to all aspects of bullying, including cyber bullying and issues of diversity and respect for difference.The Action Plan remains the basis for policy on bullying and implementation of the 12 Actions is the Department's current priority.In the context of this strategy and the need to prioritise work related to implementing the Action Plan on Bullying, I regret that it is not possible to provide funding for the BeatBullying proposal.

Yours sincerely

Gavan G. O'Leary

Principal Officer

Central Policy Unit