Vol. 497 No. 2
370 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the primary schools on a county by county basis with an enrolment between 100 and 194 which do not qualify for grants for the employment of caretakers and clerk typists; and when these schools will be entitled to receive this grant assistance promised to them in PESP. [24351/98]
The information which the Deputy has requested is currently being compiled within my Department. I will arrange to have my officials forward it directly to Deputy Bruton as soon as possible.
Under the PESP scheme, schools receive grants of £30 per pupil (£15 per pupil in respect of each service), to a maximum of £15,000 per annum, which are paid as additions to the standard per capita grant. The scheme, by its nature, is flexible and gives boards of management full discretion as to the level and extent of the services to which the grants are to be applied.
Since its introduction in 1992, the scheme of additional capitation grants to schools in respect of caretaking and clerical services has been expanded in line with undertakings given in the PESP. The priority has been to extend the scheme in the first instance to schools which have no caretaking or clerical provision already. In this regard the scheme has been extended to include more schools by reducing the qualifying enrolment threshold to its current figure of 195 pupils.
I wish to assure you that I remain committed to improvements in the provision of additional assistance to schools for caretaking and clerical services until such time as all primary schools with 100 pupils or more are assisted under the scheme.
