Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will make publicly accessible the dataset with the index variables used to assess schools for DEIS status; and if so, when this will be made publicly accessible. [17269/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The key data sources used in the DEIS identification process are the DES Primary Online Database (POD) and the Post-Primary Online Database (PPOD) containing school data provided directly by schools to the Department and CSO Small Area data from the National Census of Population 2011 as represented in the Pobal HP Index.

The HP Index, which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical small area, as defined by the CSO, uses information relating to each of these small areas to provide a measure of their relative affluence or disadvantage. The Index involves three dimensions of affluence/disadvantage: Demographic Profile (which includes age; education; population increase), Social Class Composition (which includes education level; employment sector; mean number of persons per room) and Labour Market Situation (which includes percentage of unskilled workers; unemployment profile; one parent family profile).

This data is combined with pupil data, anonymised and aggregated to small area level to provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the student cohort of individual schools. This data is applied uniformly across all schools in the country. The use of this centrally held data means that schools are not required to submit an application for inclusion in the programme.

The Pobal HP Index for Small Areas, including the scoring for individual Small Areas, is available on the Pobal website www.pobal.ie.

Personal information returned by schools to the Department on the POD and PPOD systems includes details of students' addresses etc. and is confidential. Therefore I am not in a position to make those datasets available.

Further information on the development of the identification process can be found in Chapter 3 of the DEIS Review which is available on the Department’s website at www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/DEIS-Delivering-Equality-of-Opportunity-in-Schools-/.

Further information on the identification model will be made available to schools shortly.  Information provided will include details of how the datasets are used to determine a schools level of disadvantage and the importance of up to date POD and PPOD information.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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134. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools with existing DEIS status that were assessed as not meeting the deprivation criteria in the latest DEIS assessment but did not lose their DEIS status. [17270/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The key data sources used in the DEIS Identification process are DES Primary Online Database (POD) and Post-Primary Online (PPOD) Databases as populated by schools and the CSO Small Area of Population (SAP) data from the National Census of Population 2011 as represented by the Pobal HP Deprivation Index (HP Index). Variables used in the compilation of the HP Index include those related to demographic growth, dependency ratios, education levels, single parent rate, overcrowding, social class, occupation and unemployment rates. This data is combined with pupil data, anonymised and aggregated to small area, to provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the pupil cohort of individual schools.

It is important to note that this initial assessment of all schools has been used to extend DEIS supports to those schools with the highest concentrations of disadvantage as detailed in the list of schools published on 13th February. This represents a first step in the application of the new DEIS Identification process and we are moving to support pupils in those schools with effect from September 2017.

We must be conscious that there are ongoing changes in demographics which may be more marked in some areas than others. Populations in some areas have changed considerably since the list of the current schools included within DEIS were evaluated. The new model may reveal that some schools currently included in DEIS have a level of disadvantage within their school population much lower than that in some schools not included within DEIS. If this turns out to be the case, then we must consider whether it is fair that those schools continue receiving these additional resources, using resources that may be more fairly allocated to the schools with greater levels of disadvantage.