Local authority service and other charges payable to the various local authorities do not come within the remit of the Department of Education and Science. It would be a matter for the local authorities to decide whether schools are liable to pay such charges. Where it is decided that schools are liable in respect of such charges, the cost of paying them would form part of the normal running costs of schools and would fall to be met from the capitation funding which schools have received from the Department of Education and Science. Schools are afforded considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. In my view this is in general a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific initiatives such as water or refuse charges.