Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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452. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of additional places that are planned to come on stream in further and higher education facilities in the 2023/2024 academic year to study speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology; in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7010/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not place a cap on places in speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology programmes. The information sought by the Deputy for 2023/2024 is not available.

As the Deputy may be aware, Higher Education Institutions are autonomous bodies within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997, the Institutes of Technology Acts 1992 to 2006, and the Technological Universities Act 2018. As such they are autonomous in relation to their administrative and academic affairs, and the courses offered by any institution, and the level at which they are offered, are a matter for the individual institutions to determine.

The Higher Education Authority is currently running a process to identify where further additional capacity could be built in the higher education sector in a number of healthcare areas namely Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing. It is the intention that further such processes for other disciplines will be run later in the year.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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453. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of additional places that are planned to come on stream in further and higher education facilities in the 2023/2024 academic year to study social work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7011/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science does not place a cap on the number of Social Work places. Currently, six higher education institutes (HEIs) have accredited programmes providing professional qualifications in social work. Two programmes are at the undergraduate level, with the majority of programmes at a post-graduate level.

The Social Work Education Group (SWEG) was established by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in January 2019, and comprises all relevant higher education institutions along with other key players such as the Health Service Executive (HSE), Tusla, Probation Service, and representation from DFHERIS.

This work has led to an action plan being developed to support expansion in the pipeline of Social Workers. A SWEG survey of HEIs last year identified that current prospective student demand is being met by the current provision of social work programmes however, the current supply does not appear to be sufficient to meet the demands of the health and social care sector. Accordingly, a key focus of this plan is to attract larger numbers of suitable prospective students to apply for Social Work programmes and market research has commenced to assist with identifying the reasons more students are not seeking to be social workers. The findings of the market research will inform follow-up actions identified in the plan.

My Department will continue to engage with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, their agencies and regulatory bodies regarding health and social work workforce planning.