Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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436. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the date that guidelines on the Summer Provision Programme 2022 were issued to schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4591/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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437. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the date that guidelines on the Summer Provision Programme 2023 will be issued to schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4592/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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438. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions she will take to ensure there is sufficient staff for the Summer Provision Programme 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4593/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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439. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way that she proposes to meet resourcing needs for the Summer Provision Programme 2023 where staff are unavailable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4594/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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440. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the budget allocation for the Summer Provision Programme 2022; the final spend for the Summer Provision Programme 2022; if and where underspend was reallocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4595/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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441. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions she is taking to ensure that special schools participate in the school-based Summer Provision Programme 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4596/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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442. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to address regression of children in special schools and special classes whose school does not participate in the Summer Provision Programme 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4597/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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443. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of special schools and schools with special classes that participated in the Summer Provision Programme 2022; the number of children attending these schools that participated in the Summer Provision Programme 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4598/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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444. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of pupils attending a special school that participated in the Summer Provision Programme 2022 for one, two, three, four or five weeks, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4599/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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445. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of pupils attending a school with a special class that participated in the Summer Provision Programme 2022 for one, two, three, four or five weeks, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4600/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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446. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 504 of 10 May 2022, the number of pupils that participated in each of the specific programmes offered (details supplied) as part of the Summer Provision Programme 2020, 2021 and 2022; the number of teachers and SNAs that participated in each of the specific programmes offered in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4601/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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447. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the date by which the majority of staff were paid for participating in the Summer Provision Programme in 2020, 2021 and 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4602/23]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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448. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of the school-based Summer Provision Programme 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form; the cost of the home-based Summer Provision Programme 2020, 2021 and 2022, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4603/23]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447 and 448 together.

The 2022 Summer Programme built on the expanded programmes of the previous two years. Since 2021, all primary and post-primary schools were given the opportunity to run at least one scheme under the programme.

The programme that has been provided in recent years was developed following extensive engagement with education stakeholders, parents, and disability advocacy groups. For instance, in 2022, to support more schools to participate, greater flexibility was given to schools, additional supports were provided to alleviate administration burdens, and staff who took part were paid earlier than ever before. The programme has gone from strength to strength, with over 42,000 pupils benefitting from a programme either in the school-based or home-based strands.

I am however conscious that parents want this programme to be available in more schools in 2023.

My Department has conducted a review of the Summer Programme to ensure that we can build on the success of recent years. As part of this review my Department has engaged with the management bodies, schools, and parents with a view to encouraging more schools to participate in 2023. Department officials met with the principals of Special Schools in meetings around the country. They also met with officials from Malta on two occasions to utilise some of the learnings from their system in terms of the planning and organisation. There will be particular focus on Special Schools in 2023. Additional supports and resources will be made available to them to run a programme, in recognition of the additional complexities involved.

A Home-based programme will be available in 2023 for pupils with complex special education needs where their school is not running a Summer Programme or a place on a school-based programme is unavailable.

An additional €20 million funding has been approved under Budget ‘23 to continue the expanded summer programme for next year, bringing the total to €40 million for 2023. This is in line with what was allocation for 2022. Expenditure for 2022 remains provisional however it is anticipated that the full budget was spent on the programme. This earlier announcement that funding has been secured will allow schools several extra months to plan for the programme this year.

The details of Summer Programme 2023 are due to be announced next week. Information and guidance will be circulated to schools, and published on www.gov.ie/summerprogramme. This means that guidelines will issue three months earlier than in 2022 i.e. 04 May 2022.

In 2020 and 2021 the majority of staff who worked on the summer programme were not paid until the end of November. However, it should be noted that up until 2022, the home-based and school-based payments were processed through different sections in the Department using paper-based claim forms. For 2022, schools were able to avail of the Department’s existing Esinet system to input claims for staff. This meant that claims could be processed from July onwards and throughout the summer. The majority of staff on the school-based programme were paid by the end of September.

Previously, payments for the home-based programme generally issued on common pay dates in late October and into November. However, for the 2022 programme, the first payments issued at the end of September and on a fortnightly basis thereafter.

The statistical data as requested by the Deputy in respect of 2020, 2021 and 2022 is set out in the tables below:

Number of Schools, Pupils, Teachers and SNAs that participated in the Summer Programme from 2020-2022

Note: this figure is not readily available.

Cost of Summer Programme 2020-2022

Schools and Pupils Participating in Summer Programme in Special Classes and Special Schools 2022