Vol. 526 No. 3
137 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the remuneration levels for caretakers and secretarial staff in schools under the scheme operated by his Department; the way in which it is possible to recruit staff on these remuneration levels; and his proposals to improve the position. [26503/00]
My Department provides funding towards the cost of caretaking and secretarial services in primary and secondary schools under two separate schemes.
One scheme is the 1978 scheme for the employment of school secretaries in the larger schools, under which my Department meets the full cost of salary. Remuneration levels for secretaries under this scheme, as for secretaries and caretakers employed in the comprehensive and community and VEC school sectors, range from £12,675 to £23,657 in the case of secretaries and range from £12,805 to £15,176 in the case of caretakers.
The 1978 scheme has been superseded under the PESP agreement of 1992 by a more extensive scheme that provides grants to primary and secondary schools towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services. This scheme provides a grant to schools, which is not related to any particular pay scale. The grants are based on school enrolments and are paid as additions to the standard per capita grant. The level and extent of the service provided is a matter for local school management who, through the discretion afforded by the scheme, apply diverse arrangements for secretarial and caretaking services as resources permit. As the secretaries and caretakers concerned are employees of individual schools, my Department does not have any role in determining the remuneration levels and conditions under which they are engaged. These are matters to be agreed between the staff concerned and the employer.
