§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which schools in the South Eastern Education and Library Board area will lose funding as a result of the Department of Education's decision on the changes to payment of the threshold award; and what the shortfall will be for each of the schools affected. [106125]
§ Jane KennedyAs the increase in schools' delegated budgets in 2003–04 is greater than in 2002–03, the South Eastern Education and Library Board provided the schools it funds with threshold figures for planning purposes only. The Board compared the actual costs of the threshold salary uplift in 2002–03 with the nominal position had the threshold budget been included in the Aggregated Schools Budget that year. However, as the Board has increased its Aggregated Schools Budget by 9 per cent. in 2003– 04, it is more appropriate for schools to consider their entire salary expenditure against their total budget before a budget shortfall can be inferred. It is also the case that the Board is proposing to its Finance and Property Services Committee to make £165,700 available to assist those schools with particular levels of threshold salary costs. In these circumstances, the final position will not be known until schools have completed their expenditure plans against their whole budget.