Written answers

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Department of Education and Skills

Home Tuition Scheme

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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654. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to her reply on 10 June 2015 in which she stated that her Department does not have any contracts in place with service providers for the home tuition scheme, if she will report on the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which discusses such contracts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34418/15]

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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655. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to explain the reasons for her Department not engaging in a competitive procurement process for the provision of classroom-based tuition by specialist providers in respect of the home tuition scheme, as highlighted in the recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34419/15]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 654 and 655 together.

In his Report on the Report of the Accounts of the Public Services, 2014, the Comptroller and Auditor General reported, in section 12.33, that some tuition for pre-school children with autism is delivered by specialist providers in a classroom setting at a cost to the Department of around €4 million in 2014. In areas where such services are available, it is for the parents to choose between tuition provided by a tutor in the home and the classroom-based tuition.

The report also notes that the Department does not engage in a competitive procurement process for the provision of classroom-based tuition by specialist providers. Instead, the Department each year agrees a fee basis with the specialist providers in respect of tuition delivered to children approved for home tuition.

This is an acknowledgement that parents of children, who are eligible for Home Tuition under the Department's scheme, have the freedom and flexibility to select the specialist provider themselves, subject to the provider's agreement to comply with the general provisions of the scheme and to the cost and payment arrangements set out be the Department.

In all such cases the contract under which the services of the provider are provided to the eligible child exists between the service provider and the parents.

While the Department has considered the possibility of tendering for such services, the Department is conscious that the procurement of such services centrally through a procurement process would remove the option from parents of selecting their preferred provider.

However, the Department is currently exploring the use of procurement frameworks which might allow for agreement of a pricing structure, but with flexibility in relation to volume and drawdown of service and has sought and is awaiting advice from the new Office of Government Procurement (OGP) on this possibility.

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