The Education Reform(Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Financing of grant-maintained integrated schools

Maintenance grants and capital grants

77.—(1) The payments the Department is required to make in pursuance of its duty to maintain a grant-maintained integrated school are grants to the Board of Governors of the school in respect of expenditure other than expenditure of a capital nature incurred or to be incurred in carrying on the school by the Board of Governors in the financial year to which any such grant relates (to be known as maintenance grants).

(2) The amount of the maintenance grant to be paid under this Article to the Board of Governors of each individual grant-maintained integrated school in any financial year shall—

(a) in so far as it derives from the aggregated grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department for that year, be determined by the Department (and from time to time revised) by the application of a formula determined by the Department for the purpose of dividing that budget among all grant-maintained integrated schools;

(b) in so far as it derives from excluded heads or items of expenditure of the Department in that year, be such as the Department may determine.

(3) In paragraph (2) the reference to the aggregated grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department for a financial year is a reference to the amount remaining after deducting from the amount appropriated by the Department for meeting expenditure in that year in respect of maintenance grants under this Article to all grant-maintained integrated schools (“the general grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department”) the amount of any expenditure of the Department in that year on such heads or items of expenditure as the Department may specify for the purposes of this Article (“excluded heads or items of expenditure”).

(4) Before determining the formula to be applied under paragraph (2)(a) in relation to a financial year, the Department shall consult the Board of Governors of every grant-maintained integrated school and any other person or body appearing to the Department to be concerned.

(5) In determining the formula to be applied under paragraph (2)(a) in relation to a financial year the Department shall have regard to the allocation formulae for the time being included in schemes in accordance with Article 49.

(6) Where—

(a) a new grant-maintained integrated school is established; or

(b) a school acquires grant-maintained integrated status,

paragraph (2) shall not apply in relation to the school until such date as the Department may direct; and until that date the amount of the maintenance grant to be paid under paragraph (1) to the Board of Governors of the school shall be such as the Department may determine.

(7) Until the coming into operation of paragraphs (2) to (6), the amount of the maintenance grant to be paid under paragraph (1) to the Board of Governors of each individual grant-maintained integrated school shall be such as the Department may determine.

(8) Regulations may provide for the payment by the Department to the trustees or Board of Governors of a grant-maintained integrated school of grants (to be known as “capital grants”) in respect of approved expenditure of a capital nature incurred or to be incurred for the purposes of the school of any class or description specified in the regulations.

(9) The amount of any capital grant shall be equal to 100 per cent. of the expenditure in respect of which it is paid.

(10) The descriptions of expenditure which are to be regarded for the purposes of this Article as expenditure of a capital nature shall be such as may be determined by or in accordance with regulations.

(11) Maintenance and capital grants shall be made on such conditions (including conditions requiring repayment of all or part of the grant in specified circumstances) as the Department may determine.

(12) In this Article “formula” includes methods, principles and rules of any description, however expressed.

(13) The Department may by order substitute for references in this Article and Article 78 to a financial year references to such other period as may be specified in the order.

Financial statements

78.—(1) Before the beginning of each financial year the Department shall prepare a statement of the financial provision it plans to make in that period for grant-maintained integrated schools.

(2) A statement under paragraph (1) in relation to a financial year shall contain the following particulars—

(a) the amount of the general grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department for that year;

(b) the amount of the aggregated grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department for that year;

(c) such particulars as the Department may determine of amounts deducted in respect of excluded heads or items of expenditure in arriving at the amount specified in the statement by virtue of sub-paragraph (b);

(d) such particulars of the formula to be applied in accordance with Article 77(2)(a) as the Department may determine;

(e) in the case of each individual grant-maintained integrated school, the planned expenditure per pupil arising from the division of the amount of grant payable to the school from the aggregated grant-maintained integrated schools budget of the Department in that year by the number of registered pupils at the school used in applying the formula to determine that amount;

(f) such further information as the Department may determine with respect to the financial provision the Department plans to make in that year for grant-maintained integrated schools.

(3) After the end of each financial year the Department shall prepare a statement of—

(a) the total amount of all maintenance grants actually made under Article 77 in that year;

(b) the amount of the maintenance grants actually made under Article 77 in that year to each grant-maintained integrated school.

(4) A statement prepared under this Article shall be prepared in such form, and published in such manner and at such times, as the Department may determine.

(5) The Department shall furnish the Board of Governors of each grant-maintained integrated school with a copy of each statement prepared by it under this Article.

(6) The Board of Governors of each such school shall secure that a copy of any such statement furnished to it under this Article is available for inspection (at all reasonable times and free of charge) at the school.

(7) In this Article expressions to which a meaning is given by Article 77 have the same meanings as in that Article.