Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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800. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures her Department is putting in place to assist parents struggling to meet the financial costs associated with back-to-school clothing and educational supplies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28869/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Everyone accepts that back to school costs place a burden on families and Government is taking action to help reduce those costs, and to provide direct support to those families that need it most.In relation to textbook costs an agreement was reached by my predecessor with the Irish Educational Publishers' Association, which resulted in the agreement of a Code of Practice. The Code commits the publishers to limit the publication of new editions and to maintaining editions of books in print unchanged for at least six years.The publishers have also given assurances that they will sell textbooks to schools at discounts so that schools can purchase textbooks in bulk to stock book rental schemes.Book rental schemes are the most effective method of reducing the costs of school books for parents across the country.In total, we have invested €15.6m specifically on expanding book rental schemes in primary schools.This is on top of the €15m spent annually on book grants for all schools, which can be used for the maintenance and upkeep of book rental stock.

The National Parents' Council surveyed the views of their members in relation to currently operating book rental schemes. Parents have reported that where book rental schemes operate, they are open to all parents in 95% of cases, and that the cost per child is under €40 per year in a considerable majority of schools.Perhaps most tellingly, the survey has found that 93% of parents believe that book rental schemes help with the costs of educating a child. This Government has shown a clear commitment to investing in book rental schemes.

School uniforms are a more challenging area for Government to tackle, as the type of approach we are taking in relation to book rental schemes cannot be replicated for school uniforms. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that lowering costs should be the primary factor in school uniform policies.It is of course up to each individual school to decide their own policy.However, I want to see greater consultation and great involvement of parents in these decisions.And so that is my focus in this area – giving parents a greater say in school policies that affect them.

In relation to voluntary contributions, these are requested by many, but not all, schools in Ireland.There is the clear need for parents to know that such contributions must be voluntary – there can be no compunction involved. However, I acknowledge that capitation reductions in recent years have impacted on the extent of voluntary contributions.

The funding of our schools, along with class sizes, are two of the areas I have been very clear in saying that additional investment is needed.

These are the areas I will be pursuing relentlessly in the coming months as we prepare for the Budget.