I am here on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science. The Minister is aware of the demand for increased funding by voluntary secondary schools. The funding arrangements for different school types at second level evolved in a manner reflecting different traditions and structures in the voluntary secondary, comprehensive, community and VEC sectors. This evolution generated funding anomalies and structures lacking uniformity and cohesion. At the core of funding arrangements at second level is capitation as its principal determinant. For voluntary secondary schools in the free education scheme, which are privately managed institutions, the Department of Education and Science meets the cost of teachers' salaries, excluding the first £400, and allowances. It makes an annual per capita grant for a school's recurrent costs.
These schools may also be eligible for assistance under a range of other grants under the scheme, including those for the employment of secretaries, caretakers and curricular support. Voluntary secondary schools with 200 or more pupils in the free education scheme receive financial assistance for caretaking and secretarial services under the PESP scheme. There are also a number of secondary schools in the 1978 scheme for the employment of school secretaries under which the Department of Education and Science meets the full cost of salary.
The financial allocations for vocational schools and community colleges are made to the vocational education committees as part of a block grant, which also covers the VEC overheads and other activities apart from the second level programme. The Department does not earmark allocations for individual schools or for the various activities of vocational education committees. Secretarial, caretaking and other maintenance staffing support is also allocated to vocational education committees on a scheme basis. The deployment of such staff is a matter for vocational education committees.
The annual budgets for community and comprehensive colleges take into account factors that vary from school to school. All schools in this sector have been provided with secretarial and maintenance support services. Budgets for vocational education committees and community and comprehensive schools are increased on a pro rata basis with increases in the per capita grant.
The Minister has already made it clear he considers that the report of the steering group on the funding of second level schools represents a comprehensive review of the funding arrangements and is a valuable document in both its analysis and clarity of approach. The recommendations made in the steering group's report for the future funding arrangements of second level schools are under continuing review. At the core of the recommendations are the principles of equity of treatment, transparency of funding structures and adequacy of funding levels. Although his priority is to focus on the issue of adequacy of funding, the Minister is conscious of the traditional anomalies that have evolved in the funding arrangements for the different school types at second level and is committed to bring greater equity and cohesion to this particular aspect of the funding of schools.
In this connection, the Minister has already shown his commitment by the establishment of the school services support fund which is a significant initiative in the funding of our schools. This funding initiative represents a new approach by the Department that supports the school development planning process. This process can only be enhanced if each school is given some flexibility in the deployment of its resources. While provision for support services, including secretarial and caretaking services, is a particular focus of this fund, schools are being given discretion as to how this additional funding is best utilised in the interest of their pupils and for the operation of their schools. A school with 500 pupils will now receive additional annual funding of £20 per pupil or £10,000, with a minimum payment for smaller schools of £4,000 per school. This fund will channel an additional £4 million to voluntary secondary schools each year. In addition, since 1997, notwithstanding many competing demands on budgetary resources, the funding allocated to secondary schools has been increased substantially.
The standard per capita grant was increased to £184 from £177 in 1999. It was further increased by £8 from September last to £192 and will be significantly increased by £10 for the next school year. For a school with 500 pupils, this amounts to an extra £12,500 per annum and a total capitation grant of £101,000 towards general expenses. An additional per capita grant of £30 per pupil is paid to disadvantaged schools, thereby bringing the total grant in the case of such a school with 500 pupils to £116,000.
Secondary schools have also benefited from increases in the grant scheme for school books for needy pupils in post-primary schools to £4.5 million for the year 2000. This represents an increase of almost 20% on the amount provided in 1996; as part of the national reading initiative, grants amounting to £2.6 million were channelled to second level schools in 1999. The level of grant amounted to £7.70 per pupil with a minimum payment of £1,540 per school; a library grant amounting to £2.4 million was paid to schools in 1998. All schools received £2,500, increased to £5,320 for disadvantaged schools; under the IT 2000 initiative, schools were paid grants of £4 per pupil with a minimum of £1,200 per school in 2000 and £2,000 per school plus £5 per pupil in 1999 towards the funding of computerised administration. In addition, since 1998 grants amounting to about £4.6 million have been paid to secondary schools towards ICT infrastructural development; under the science initiative, a per capita grant of £10 was introduced in 1999. In addition, grants of £10,500 per school at a total cost of approximately £7 million were paid in 2000 towards the cost of science equipment and an increase in the grant made for secretarial services under the PESP scheme from £25 per pupil to £30 per pupil, thereby increasing the maximum annual grant from £8,750 to £10,500 per eligible school.
While funding arrangements at second level have evolved in an ad hoc manner and reflect the different traditions and structures of the voluntary secondary, community and comprehensive and VEC sectors, the Minister's approach to date has clearly shown his commitment and determination to improve funding at second level and he intends to build further on progress to date. I thank the Senator again for raising this matter.
