Vol. 528 No. 2
236 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science further to the recent publication of the 2000 forecast outturn for the voted capital services in the education sector, the amount of the 2000 allocation for the education technology investment fund which was spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29969/00]
Details of actual expenditure in respect of the year 2000 will not be finalised until the end of the 2000 financial year.
An annual report in respect of the operation of the fund will be prepared by my officials not later than three months after the end of the financial year. Copies of this report will be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and published. A copy of the annual report is circulated to all members of each of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
In addition, the accounts of the fund are submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit within three months of the end of the financial year. Within one month of receipt by me of the report of the comptroller and Auditor General, an abstract of the audited accounts together with a copy of this report is laid before each of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
237 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science further to the recent publication of the 2000 forecast outturn for the voted capital services in the education sector, the reason over £1m of last year's capital allocation for primary schools remains unspent; the reason £17 million extra could be spent on secondary school capital projects in the same year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29970/00]
The data to which the Deputy refers are provisional outturn figures which were based on the position as forecast in October 2000. The original capital allocation for national schools in 2000 was £81 million and the forecast was that it would be fully expended before year end. However, there was a projected saving of £1 million on the allocation of £4.775 million for special schools for young offenders due to a slower than anticipated level of expenditure on projects for that area.
The provisional outturn figures also indicated that £17 million additional capital at second level was required to greater than estimated progress with projects. In order to maintain the momentum, of improvement in this sector, I have sought and obtained the additional sum of £17 million in the Supplementary Estimates for Education Votes for 2000.
