Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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333. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of guidance counsellors employed in secondary schools in each county, for the years 2011 to 2015. [13456/16]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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334. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of guidance counsellors currently employed in secondary schools by county; the number of vacant posts in each county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13457/16]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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335. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of creating ten new guidance counsellor positions. [13458/16]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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337. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action his Department has taken to allay concerns raised recently by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, concerning the 2015 Central Applications Office statistics, whereby 8.1% of students made no choices compared to 1.3% in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13460/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 333 to 335, inclusive, and 337 together.

The Programme for Government 'A Programme for a Partnership Government' has a commitment to enhance the guidance counsellor allocation in our secondary schools.

Up until September 2012, an ex-quota allocation was provided for guidance in addition to the standard teacher allocation to post primary schools. This resource was allocated in accordance with pupil enrolment. 42% of second-level schools at the time were allocated at least 22 hours per week in respect of guidance (22 hours being the equivalent of one teaching post) while the remainder of the schools were allocated between 8 and 17 hours of guidance per week.

Since September 2012 at post primary level guidance provision is now being organised by school management from within the staffing schedule allocation. Guidance is a whole school activity and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to students. This operates at local school level and therefore the information requested by the Deputy on the number of guidance counsellors in secondary schools is not available centrally within my Department.

The current budget provides an improved staffing allocation to second level schools for the purpose of enhancing guidance provision. This improvement takes effect from next September. It brings the basis of allocation from 19:1 to 18.7:1 for the 2016/17 school year. This improvement of 0.3 in PTR allocation is a restoration of 50% of the teaching resources that were removed when the allocation of guidance posts was brought within quota.

Restoring the guidance counsellor allocation to 100% will require an additional 300 teaching posts at an estimated cost of €19m per annum. The current average cost of a teaching post at post primary level is €63,000 per annum.

The delivery of the 50% restoration through a change in the staffing schedule will allow each school to determine how best to allocate the additional resources to meet the guidance needs of the school. The circular issued earlier this year by my Department outlining the allocation of teaching resources clearly stated that this additional resource is to complement existing resources in order to best meet the guidance needs of the school in line with the school's guidance plan.

It is important to note that in previous changes to guidance counselling allocations in 2012, as a consequence of the Budget adjustment which had to be made at the time, all 195 DEIS schools were effectively sheltered from these changes as a result of the more favourable staffing schedule of 18.25:1. This was a 0.75 point improvement compared to the current PTR of 19:1 that applies in non-fee-paying second-level schools.

That was a very important protection for the cohort of our schools in DEIS most in need of support. DEIS schools will also further benefit from the 0.3 improvement to the staffing schedule which will give them an enhanced allocation on the basis of 17.95:1 in respect of the 2016/17 school year.

The new National Skills Strategy provides for a review of the full range of guidance services, tools and careers information available to students and adults. The review will map future priorities and make recommendations for improvements.

In the next Budget I will consider the best approach to further meeting commitments in the Programme for Government.