Contracts for state school transportation "project a sense of excessive leniency towards suppliers”, a report by the National Audit Office has found. 

This sense of leniency makes it harder for the government to penalise poor performance when suppliers fail to meet their obligations, the NAO said.

In a report titled “Managing and Monitoring the State Schools’ Transport Service”, the NAO said that it could not conclusively certify that the value for the funds invested in state school transportation was being fully achieved.

The report, which was laid on the Table of the House this evening, found that monthly reports compiled by schools are not always comprehensive in what they account for.  In other instances, documentation about the transport routes being performed was lacking. 

Notably, it found discrepancies between what was included in the schools’ monthly performance reports, and the respective reported payments in the corresponding statements of account prepared by MEDE.

The NAO acknowledged that this did not necessarily imply that paid trips had not been performed. But it nonetheless noted that this heavily impinged on the payment process’ completeness and transparency.

It also noted that a Geographical Information Tracking System made available by suppliers was cumbersome and therefore nearly impossible for the ministry to use in a proactive manner.

The service, which is provided free of charge by the government and which the NAO said has social importance, costs some €6.1 million a year to run. It is supplied through five outsourcing service agreements and managed by the Education Ministry.

Read the report in full on the NAO website.