Adequacy and Timing of Secondary School Grants
The Minister said the Joint Managerial Body welcomed the £7 increase but had requested it from January; he defended its start at the 1981–82 school year as the Government’s appropriate choice. Members challenged the grant’s adequacy and asked whether the delay reflected lack of funds, which the Minister denied.
asked the Minister for Education whether he has received any representations from the managerial authorities of secondary schools as to the adequacy or otherwise of the 10 per cent increase in the grants in lieu of fees which was recently announced by him.
Comment on this
I wish to draw attention to the statement issued on 21 January 1981 by Brother Declan Duffy, General Secretary, on behalf of the Joint Managerial Body which represent 530 Catholic and Protestant schools. In the course of the statement it was indicated that the Joint Managerial Body welcomed the increase of £7 in the grant in lieu of fees and congratulated me on my effort in difficult financial circumstances to help secondary school authorities to maintain the school service in times of escalating inflation. The JMB requested that the increase should be introduced with effect from 1 January but I was unable to meet such request.
Comment on this
Do I interpret the Minister's reply correctly as a statement that, while the managerial authorities were grateful for the increase granted, they did not regard it as adequate?
Comment on this
I dare say that, no matter what grant or Government allocation is given, people will still not be satisfied. They will want more.
Comment on this
Is it not the case that the Secretariat of Secondary Schools sought an increase far in excess of that granted? Further, is it not the case that the increase granted is about £20per capita less than what was sought? Will the Minister explain to the House why he was not in a position to grant the increase applied for?
Comment on this
In refusing to backdate the grant to the date requested by the managerial authorities, will the Minister state if he did so because he disagreed with the case put forward by the managerial authorities to justify the backdating or was it because he did not have the money?
Comment on this
Taking into account the total expenditure on education for the year, the Government decided that the appropriate date was the beginning of the academic year 1981-82.