Vol. 567 No. 3
138 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties schools are facing across the country due to high insurance rates; the actions he is taking to address this problem; and the discussions or meetings which have taken place within or outside his Department on the issue. [14148/03]
I am aware of concerns that have been expressed by school authorities about increased insurance costs. At primary level, schools' running costs have been traditionally met by my Department's scheme of capitation grants. These grants are intended to contribute towards the general operating costs of primary schools, including insurance costs. In the case of secondary schools, it is a matter for the managerial authorities of the individual schools to arrange insurance cover on school property and against public liability. Grant aid towards voluntary secondary school funding costs provided by my Department by way of per capita grants may be used for this purpose. Grant aid to secondary schools is provided by my Department by way of per capita grant and may be used towards insurance costs.
Significant improvements have been made in the level of funding to second level schools. The standard per capita grant of €224.74 that applied in 1997 was increased to €266.49 in this school year. An additional per capita grant of €38.09 is paid to disadvantaged schools, bringing the total per capita grant in the case of such schools to over €300. In addition, under the school services support initiative, second level schools will benefit from further significant increases in the support grant from €25.40 per pupil to €99 per pupil over this school year. Funding for voluntary secondary schools has been further enhanced by the introduction of a range of equalisation measures designed to reduce historic anomalies in funding arrangements for the different second level school types.
Under the terms of a recent equalisation measure, the support services grant was further increased by €28 per pupil with effect from September 2002. This brought the support services grant in the case of secondary schools to €116.88 per pupil from September 2002 and to €127 per pupil from 1 January 2003. This increase is in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554 per school –€ 44.44 per pupil – per annum that was approved for secondary schools in December 2001. For a school with 500 pupils, this amounts to extra funding of up to €100,000 per annum and annual grants of €236,761 –€255,811 in the case of disadvantaged schools – towards general expenses and support services, including insurance costs.
