Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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353. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to update the arrangements between his Department and Bus Éireann to deliver school transport in view of the fact that the arrangements have not been updated since 1975; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46204/17]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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354. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to negotiate a service level agreement between his Department and Bus Éireann regarding the provision of school transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46205/17]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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355. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which the surplus will be recovered and or used despite the fact that Bus Éireann statutory financial arrangements do not support the position of his Department regarding the funds being set aside for use by Bus Éireann to meet future costs of school transport operations (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46214/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 353 to 355, inclusive, together.

School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

During the 2016/17 school year almost 116,000 children, including some 12,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has carried out an examination of the provision of school transport. The examination focused on whether the Department can demonstrate that it is achieving value for money through its arrangements with Bus Éireann to deliver the service and the oversight exercised by the Department on how the school transport service is delivered.

In general the Department agrees with the recommendations and is taking steps to action these, for example a Service Level Agreement has been put in place between the two organisations.

The 1975 Summary of Accounting Arrangements, remains the current arrangements in operation.  The remaining uncommitted reserve of some €6.7 million (at end 2016) may only be used for reinvestment in the school transport scheme as has been the case heretofore.