I am satisfied that the provision of an enhanced rate of per capita grant to certain secondary schools is an appropriate response to disadvantage and is in accordance with the pledge of a major concentration of resources on the disadvantaged contained in the Programme for a Partnership Government and the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
I am aware that there are disadvantaged pupils attending schools other than schools which have been designated as disadvantaged for the purposes of this additional per capita grant. However, the schools so designated are those with the highest concentration of disadvantaged and the enhanced per capita grant is but one of a number of interventions from which disadvantaged pupils benefit.
As I indicated in my reply to a previous parliamentary question on 19 April 1994, the State does not meet the full cost of voluntary secondary schools. Instead specific grants are paid at rates which are reviewed from time to time. I am pleased to have been able to increase the standard per capita grant towards the general running costs of secondary schools from £150 to £158 with effect from 1 January 1994, the first increase in the rate since 1990. The figure of £173 referred to in the question is the total of the revised standard rate of grant of £158 plus the additional amount of £15 for disadvantaged schools. This enhanced rate is intended to reflect the particular circumstances of these schools, not the circumstances of secondary schools generally.
