Preparatory work will be commencing shortly for the 2012 budget. The EU-IMF agreement and the planning underpinning it recognised the need to make further payroll savings in 2012. There is provision for consultation with the education partners on how best to achieve a further reduction in teacher payroll costs from 2012. Should the consultation process not produce alternative feasible measures to deliver the required savings, the introduction of appropriate increases in the classroom teacher allocation schedules is envisaged. My Department will be inviting the relevant partners to work on identifying measures that can deliver further savings. We need to ensure that any inefficiencies in our systems are eliminated so we minimise the impact on front-line services.

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