Vol. 539 No. 1
405 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the dissatisfaction (details supplied) among school secretarial staff regarding their method of payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18628/01]
My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial services in primary schools under two separate schemes. One scheme is the 1978 scheme for the employment of school secretaries in primary schools under which my Department meets the full cost of salary. While these posts are fully funded by my Department, the secretaries involved are employees of the individual school authorities. This scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant and no new posts are being created. It has been superseded in the PESP Agreement of 1992 by a more extensive grant scheme.
The PESP scheme provides additional per capita grants for primary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services. These grants are paid as additions to the standard per capita grants. This scheme does not provide for the linking of the additional per capita grants to any particular pay scale. The scheme, by its nature, is flexible and gives boards of management discretion as to the manner in which secretarial and caretaking services are provided. Secretaries and caretakers employed by schools are employees of the individual schools and my Department does not have any role in determining the pay and conditions under which they are employed. I do not consider that secretaries or caretakers employed by schools in such circumstances should be replaced by a scheme of direct payment by my Department.
At primary level, I increased the rates of grant by 33% from £30 per pupil to £40 per pupil with effect from January 2000. Furthermore, with effect from September 2000, I extended the scheme to all primary schools. In addition, I have set a minimum grant of £2,400 per annum which is payable to all schools with 60 pupils or less.
These improvements mean that, for the first time, all primary schools now qualify for an annual grant to assist them with the provision of secretarial and caretaking services. The Government's commitment in this regard can also be measured by the fact that the funding allocated for this purpose, which was approximately £5.6 million in 1999, increased in 2000 to approximately £12.2 million and will further increase this year to approximately £16.8 million.
