David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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243. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current process in designating a school as a DEIS school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4791/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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245. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria used to determine if a school qualifies for DEIS status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4793/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 245 together.

My Department is in the final stages of refinement of the new DEIS identification model, based on school enrolment data and the latest data available from Census 2016 under the HP Deprivation 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 supplied by schools, anonymised and aggregated to small area, to provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the pupil cohort of individual schools.

A detailed quality analysis of the data has been carried out by members of the DEIS Technical Group which contains representatives of the Department’s Statistics and Social Inclusion Units, the Inspectorate and the Educational Research Centre. The work of this group is at an advanced stage and a consultation process with education stakeholder representatives on the technical aspects of the refined DEIS ID model is currently in progress. It is envisaged that this model will then provide the basis for development of a DEIS resource allocation system to match resources to identified need.

I am confident that the culmination of this work will facilitate the ultimate aim of matching resources to identified need and will allow us to target extra resources at those schools most in need. Until this work is complete, it is not intended to extend the DEIS programme to any further schools.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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244. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a school (details supplied) will be supported for DEIS status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4792/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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My Department is in the final stages of refinement of the new DEIS identification model, based on school enrolment data and the latest data available from Census 2016 using the HP Deprivation Index. A detailed quality analysis of the data has been carried out by members of the DEIS Technical Group which contains representatives of the Department’s Statistics and Social Inclusion Units, the Inspectorate and the Educational Research Centre. The work of this group is at an advanced stage and a consultation process with education stakeholder representatives on the technical aspect of this model is in progress. It is envisaged that this will then provide the basis for development of a DEIS resource allocation system to match resources to identified need.

I am confident that the culmination of this work will facilitate the ultimate aim of matching resources to identified need and will allow us to target extra resources at those schools most in need. Until this work is complete, it is not intended to extend the DEIS programme to any further schools.