Vol. 522 No. 4
302 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans he has to equalise spending on the grounds of fairness and equity in view of the wide disparity of funding per pupils in each of the education sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19106/00]
One of my main priorities is to ensure that all levels of the education sector have adequate resources, including financial resources, to enable schools and colleges to effectively deliver quality education and training programmes.
Each education sector has specific funding requirements which derive from the length, complexity and nature of the education-training courses being provided. Within any sector there is considerable variation in the costs of specific programmes; for example at third level technological and science programmes have higher operational costs than the programmes in humanities. This is in line with education expenditure patterns in all developed countries.
In allocating resources I have paid particular attention to the primary sector. The standard primary capitation grant per pupil per annum was £45 in 1996-97 whereas now it is £64 and will be increased to £71 from next January, representing an increase of approximately 60% on the 1996-97 capitation grant.
Also since 1996-97 this Government has allocated 1,260 additional primary teaching posts while there was a fall in pupil enrolments of 25,000 approximately. I have decided to allocate a further 200 teaching posts from September next to tackle disadvantage in the primary sector and over the course of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness will allocate a further 900 teaching posts.
