Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the names and locations of the 24 schools in County Laois which are without access to a NEPS psychologist. [6417/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides an educational psychological service to schools through the direct assignment of a NEPS psychologist and in some cases by providing schools access to the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) where schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. SCPA is utilised, in the main, where as yet unfilled vacancies exist in NEPS staffing provision locally or where staffing resource is lost through extended leave (maternity, sick or carer’s leave)

I attach for the Deputy’s information a list of schools who currently derive this service through the abovementioned SCPA scheme rather than through a NEPS psychologist. In the case of these schools, NEPs psychologists may no longer be assigned to those schools as a result of retirement, resignation or transfer to another NEPs region. 

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) maintain regional recruitment panels of qualified personnel to fill these vacancies. During 2016, despite my Department's best efforts the panels did not produce recruits for NEPS in relation to all vacancies, the panels were therefore closed.

A new national recruitment competition was put in place last Autumn by PAS to fill all vacancies within all NEPS Regions.  The resulting interview process associated with this competition was completed last week and recruitment panels for each NEPS region, including Dublin, will now be formed.  PAS will finalise the processing of the candidates, including Garda vetting, and propose each candidate in series to my Department Human Resources Section for contract negotiations and formal job offer.

It is envisaged that the process will produce new NEPS psychologists for assignment to schools, including that to which the Deputy refers in his question, by the end of the current academic year.

However it is important to point out that in cases where NEPS service is not available through staffing vacancy or temporary absence of staff, as described above, the schools affected continue to have access to a psychologist through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments to undertake pupil assessment work.

I would also confirm that all schools are able to access full NEP supports in the event of a critical incident irrespective of their having ongoing access to an assigned NEPS psychologist or not.

List of Co. Louth Schools who do not currently have access to a NEPS Psychologist to undertake pupils assessment but who have instead access to the SCPA Scheme for this purpose.