Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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479. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reconsider the requirements for collection and transfer of personal data under the pupil online database; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8931/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The primary purpose of the Primary Online Database (POD) will be to monitor the education progress of primary pupils (in DES aided schools), throughout the primary system and onwards to post primary level and to help them develop their full educational potential. Once up and running other secondary purposes of POD will include becoming the basis for the allocation of teachers and capitation grants. Aggregated POD data will also be used for the production and publication of primary level statistics.

The Department has consulted with the Data Protection Commissioner in relation to the collection of individual pupil information for the Primary Online Database. They have stated that PPSN can now be collected by schools with the purpose being it is a requirement of the Primary Online Database. Having the PPSN on the database will help ensure that there are no duplicate records in the system, i.e., that two schools do not have the same child on their roll. In the future we will be able to track pupils from early childhood education, to primary school and onto post-primary, which will allow us to ensure that every child in the State of compulsory school age is in education.

Individualised databases are now in place covering pre-primary, post-primary, PLC and third level education-the lack of individualised information on primary school pupils presents a very significant data gap for monitoring the progress of learners throughout the education system.

The legal basis for sharing the pupil data between schools and the Department is as laid out in Section 28 of the Education Welfare Act, which provides for the sharing of data for the purposes outlined in the act.

The Department takes the protection of pupil's data very seriously. The Primary Online Database may only be accessed through password-controlled accounts. POD application roles have been developed which limit school staff to viewing and maintaining their own pupil records. Only the school that the pupil attends and a small number of Department staff will have access to an account.

The Department has received a number of comments and queries on certain aspects of POD including the retention period for POD data. The Department is taking this feedback very seriously and is currently considering the submissions received by parents and other stakeholders. Once this evaluation is complete the Department will issue an updated circular on POD.