Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 117: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the comparatively low wage level of many school secretaries; if she will take responsibility at Department level for ensuring that secretaries are recognised as core staff in the running of schools and that they have appropriate salary scales; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5087/07]

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

The 1978 scheme has been superseded by a more extensive school support grant scheme towards the funding of ancillary services in schools including secretarial services.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. The terms and conditions of employment are matters for agreement between the employee and the authorities of each school. The Department does not stipulate any rules concerning how the secretarial services are to be obtained by schools. Accordingly the arrangements are suited to local needs and are not standard across the sector.

There have been significant improvements in recent years in the level of funding for primary and 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 for secondary schools was increased by a further €18 to €316 per pupil. In addition, the support services grant was 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 brings 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 will bring annual grants towards general expenses and support service to over €290,000.

At primary level, the basic rate of capitation was increase by €18 per pupil to a level of €163.58 per pupil from 1 January 2007. The ancillary services grant was also increase by €6.50 to €145.50 per pupil. Taken together, these increases mean that primary schools eligible for the full ancillary services grant will get €24.50 extra per pupil to cover their day to day running costs in 2007, with a primary school of 300 pupils getting nearly €7,400 extra. In fact, this 300 pupil school will get approximately €93,000 from my Department in 2007 to meet such costs.

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