Written answers

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

School Completion Programme

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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539. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will reconsider the 6.5% reduction nationally in funding through Túsla - Child and Family Agency for the school completion programme in schools with delivering equality of opportunity in schools status; the reductions in Counties Galway and Mayo; if money could be ring-fenced for the school completion programme; the total reduction in euros; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12114/15]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The School Completion Programme aims to retain young people in the formal education system to completion of senior cycle and to generally improve the school attendance, participation and retention of young people who are risk of educational disadvantage. The Programme is a targeted intervention aimed at school communities identified through the Department of Education and Skills' DEIS Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. It involves 124 locally managed projects and related initiatives operating across 470 primary and 224 post-primary schools to provide targeted supports to approximately 36,000 children and young people.Each project involves a cluster of schools working collectively to provide a range of supports and interventions designed to support individual children identified locally as being at risk of early school leaving within those school communities

As with all programmes involving significant expenditure, the School Completion Programme budget was subject to examination under the terms of the 2011 Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. This process identified a requirement for savings of 6.5% per annum across the programme over the period 2012 to 2014, amounting to €5.5m. In 2014, the allocation to the programme was €24.756m.

Since 1stJanuary 2014, the Child and Family Agency has operational responsibility for the School Completion Programme, including the allocation of funds to local projects. The first and second instalments of 2014/15 funding has issued to local projects and a third instalment is planned for payment in May 2015.

The estimate for the Child and Family Agency for 2015 is €631 million, a 4.3% increase on its 2014 allocation. My Department has recently issued a Performance Statement to the Agency under Section 45 of the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013. This includes my priorities for consideration in the development of the Agency's 2015 Business Plan. The Business Plan will set out the Agency's proposed activities, programmes and priorities for 2015, including provision for the School Completion Programme, in light of the monies available.

A review of the School Completion Programme by the ESRI is almost complete. The review will assist in identifying the reforms necessary to consolidate the programme on a sustainable footing for the future and to ensure that it is line with the aims of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the national policy framework for children and young people (2014-2020).

The aim is to ensure that available funds are targeted to those services that provide the greatest contribution to good educational outcomes for children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. The review has an important contribution to make to these aims and the future development of the school completion programme. It is envisaged that the review will be completed shortly.

The information sought by the Deputy in relation to School Completion Programme clusters in Galway and Mayo has been requested from the Child and Family Agency and I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is received.

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