Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE 1997-2000)REGULATIONS 1997 NO. 268

Statutory Rules 1997 No. 268

Minute No. 13 of 1997 - Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training

Subject- States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996

States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance 1997-2000) Regulations

Section 91 of the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Subsection 78(1) of the Act provides that the Regulations may state for a particular programme year, numbers to be used for the variation of amounts of recurrent and capital grants, respectively, specified in Schedules in relation to that year. The States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance 1997-2000) Regulations specify numbers for the 1997 programme year in respect of recurrent and capital grants. Grants for 1998, 1999 and 2000 will be adjusted further by numbers specified in Regulations to be made in those years.

The amounts of recurrent and capital grants to be provided to each State for specific purposes are set out in the Schedules for each programme year and are to be supplemented each year to meet the costs of inflation by multiplying the amounts in the Schedules by the relevant numbers set out in the Regulations. Supplementation applies to programmes for both government and non-government schools.

Recurrent grants are supplemented in line with the Average Government School Recurrent Costs (AGSRC) index. The AGSRC index used for this purpose is based on movements in Average Government School Costs, excluding capital costs associated with the provision of buildings and grounds, with modifications for one-off costs such as redundancy payments and the exclusion of the Commonwealth's own outlays. The AGSRC data is maintained by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. The latest available AGSRC is for the 1995/96 financial year.

Capital grants are supplemented by the Building Price Index (BPI) which is published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Regulations provide for recurrent grants for 1997 to be supplemented for the movement in the AGSRC index between the 1994/95 and 1995/96 financial years of 7.4% and for capital grants for 1997 to be supplemented by the BPI for cost movements between December 1995 and December 1996 of 0.6% resulting in a recurrent grants number of 1.074 and a capital grants number of 1.006, as determined by the Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training after considering the above changes in the AGSRC and the BPI.

The effect of the Regulations is to provide an additional $227.8 million for recurrent programmes and $1.8 million for capital grants in 1997.

A Regulation Impact Statement is not required because the Regulations have no impact on business.

The Regulations commenced on the date of Gazettal.

Details of the Regulations are attached.

Authority: Sections 78 and 91 of the States Grants Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996