Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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335. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of assessments that have been carried out by the National Educational Psychological Service for each class level for primary school pupils, that is junior infants, senior infants and so on, or alternatively by year of age, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13587/17]

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 through 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.

In relation to SCPA assessments my Department processes payment returns from schools certifying satisfactory delivery of an assessment. It does not centrally record the age or class of the child/ pupil undergoing assessment.

Referrals undertaken by NEPS psychologists do have a range of detail recorded on the NEPS Casetrack database and I attach for the Deputy’s information a breakdown of such referrals in primary schools in 2015/16 by age of pupil.

Number of referrals undertaken by NEPS psychologists in Primary schools 2015/16 by age of pupil:

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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336. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of psychologists in each National Educational Psychological Service office in tabular form; the total number of schools the office covers; the vacancies in each office; the administrative support in each office; the area covered by each office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13588/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service is based on a regional structure with eight divisions and 23 offices servicing primary and post-primary in their respective hinterlands.  While each office generally services schools within a given county or counties the process is not a rigid one and allows for flexibility in responding to local geography and staff availability between offices as appropriate.

I attach for the Deputy’s information a list of these offices, their staffing levels, including current vacancies and the count of schools that fall into each of their catchment areas.

The Deputy will be aware that following completion of a recent national recruitment competition the Public Appointments Service (PAS) has developed regional panels from which the 11 vacancies currently existing in NEPS psychologist staffing numbers will be filled. This process is currently ongoing and it is envisaged that it will be completed before the end of the academic year. 

Furthermore  under the Programme for Government NEPS psychologist number will be increased by a further ten posts in the current year, these personnel should be in place by the commencement of the 2017/18 academic year.

Detail of NEPS Office Staffing, Vacancies and Counties serviced 2017:

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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337. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total amount of payments per annum by the National Educational Psychological Service to the scheme for the commissioning of psychological assessments, SCPA, panel over the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13589/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The table sets out the cost of assessment paid in each of the last five years under my department’s Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).

Amounts paid to panelists under the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments - by year 2012-2016: