Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1518: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if there are proposals under consideration by her Department to amend the arrangements under which schools can employ secretarial staff; if her Department makes pension arrangements in respect of school secretaries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1341/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial services in the case of secondary schools under two separate schemes. One is the 1978/79 scheme for the employment of school secretaries in secondary schools under which my Department meets the full cost of salary. The 1978/79 scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant and no new posts are being created.

The 1978/79 scheme has been superseded by a more extensive school support grant scheme towards the funding of ancillary services in schools including secretarial services. The scheme is flexible in nature giving Boards of Management and schools discretion as to the manner in which these services are provided.

Under that scheme each school receives a grant from my Department for the provision of secretarial and other ancillary services. It is a matter for each school to determine how best to meet its secretarial requirements. My Department has no direct role in the pay or conditions of service of secretaries employed directly by schools under these arrangements. There are no proposals at present to change this position.

There have been significant improvements in recent years in the level of funding for voluntary secondary schools. I wish to draw the attention of the Deputy to my announcement of further significant increases in the context of the 2007 estimates. From 1 January 2007 the standard per capita grant has been increased by a further €18 to €316 per pupil. In addition, the support services grant has been increased by a further €30 for voluntary secondary schools, which includes a further equalisation measure, to €189 per pupil. For such schools this cumulative increase of €48 per pupil will bring the aggregate grant to over €500 per pupil from 1 January 2007. These grants are in addition to the per capita funding of up to €40,000 per school that is also provided by my Department to secondary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services. For example in the case of a secondary school with 500 pupils, this brings the annual grants towards general expenses and support service to over €290,000.

The provision that I have made, in the context of the 2007 estimates, for these significant increases in the funding of voluntary secondary schools is a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of schools.