Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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396. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the reason a school (details supplied) in County Kerry has not received DEIS status despite the profile of both students and parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20695/17]

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 Post-Primary Online (PPOD) Databases, and CSO data from the National Census of Population as represented in the Pobal HP Index for Small Areas, which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area. 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.

Full details of the process involved in the assessment of schools is available on my Department's website at .

Schools included in the list published by my Department on 13th February are those whose level of disadvantage has been identified as being at the same level as the current DEIS category for schools serving the highest concentrations of disadvantage. Schools which have not been included at this stage, including the one referred to by the Deputy, are those which have not been identified as having the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage amongst their pupil cohort, under the new model.

It is important to note that this is a first step in a process and the fact that a school has not been included now does not preclude its inclusion at a later date, should the assessment indicate a level of disadvantage that warrants additional supports. I am fully aware that there are further schools whose concentrated level of disadvantage may not be at the highest level, but may nevertheless be at a level which warrants additional supports for pupils under DEIS.

I am satisfied that the new DEIS Identification Model used to assess the level of disadvantage among the pupil cohort of a school has been applied fairly using centrally held data adopting an objective and scientific approach which has been uniformly applied for all schools, including the school referred to by the Deputy, in the country.

For schools who have concerns about their non-inclusion in the most recent round of DEIS, the following process applies:

- a verification process is currently ongoing in relation to all schools who contacted my Department requesting that their data be validated. This is aimed at ensuring the model was run correctly and the data supplied by the schools through the POD/PPOD systems was correctly used. This process is expected to be concluded shortly and schools will be informed of the results.

- A further process will take account of updated data as it becomes available. All schools, not just those who queried the outcome of the February 2017 process, are being contacted to request them to ensure that their POD/PPOD data is fully correct and up to date, including Eircodes. As soon as the 2016 National Census data becomes available later this summer, this data will be run through the identification model with the fully up-to-date POD/PPOD data. If this exercise reveals that any school which did not qualify for DEIS in the February 2017 round actually meets the criteria applicable to schools with the highest concentration of disadvantage based on the fully up-to-date information then it will be included, subject to resources.

My Department intends to make available to all schools information relating to the identification process and their own individual school data. Arrangements for this are in hand and schools will be advised in due course.

I also wish to inform the Deputy that a communication to all schools will issue shortly to provide information on the identification model, including details of how the datasets are used to determine a school's level of disadvantage; the importance of data quality to the process and the need for schools to provide detailed and up to date information to my Department's online pupil databases.

The implementation of the new objective central data-based model of identifying levels of disadvantage within school populations will be followed by a further programme of work to create a more dynamic model where levels of resource more accurately follow the levels of need identified by that model. The completion of this work will inform ongoing provision and consideration will be given to extending DEIS supports to a further group of schools as resources permit.