Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the work of the school improvement group; the number of schools with which it has engaged to date; the number of times it has met during each year since 2010; the membership of the group; and the level of funding allocated to it. [20547/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The School Improvement Group monitors the process of follow-up by schools where significant weaknesses have been identified in the overall quality of teaching and learning; leadership and management; compliance with statutory requirements or regulations or codes of practice; or capacity to implement a programme of improvement. 76 schools have been referred to the group since its establishment in 2008. 32 of these cases remain active while 44 cases have closed due to sufficient improvement being noted or closure of the school by the patron. The group generally meets about 3 or 4 times a year. A total of 18 meetings of the group have taken place since 2010. This does not include meetings held with individual schools.

The group comprises senior officials drawn from the Department's School Governance Section and the Inspectorate and involves officials from other sections of the Department, as necessary. The Group works within the Department's existing policies and budget and does not therefore have a separate budget assigned to it.