Vol. 503 No. 3
590 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will increase the £15 per capita grant and the maximum grant level available to schools for secretarial services to a realistic level which recognises the vastly increased demand for such services. [9987/99]
Arising from the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, a scheme was introduced in 1992 whereby my Department provides additional capitation grants for primary schools towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services.
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 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 secretarial or caretaking provision already rather than increase the per capita grant rate of £30 per pupil. 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, with an ultimate target of providing grant aid to all primary schools with 100 pupils or more.
