Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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STATES GRANTS (PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ASSISTANCE) REGULATIONS(AMENDMENT) 1996 NO. 199

STATUTORY RULES 1996 No. 199

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training

States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1992

States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 119 of the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1992 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Subsection 106(1) of the Act provides that the regulations may specify for a particular program 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 Minute recommends amendments to the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Regulations to specify the numbers for the 1996 program year in respect of recurrent and capital grants.

The amounts of recurrent and capital grants given to each State for specific purposes are set out in the Schedules for each program year and are supplemented each year to meet the cost of inflation by multiplying the amounts of the Schedules by the relevant numbers set out in the Regulations.

Recurrent grants are supplemented in line with the Average Government Schools 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, and 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 for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. The latest available AGSRC is for the 1994/95 financial year.

Capital grants are supplemented by the Building Price Index (BPI) which is based on information provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Regulations provide for the recurrent grants for 1996 to be supplemented by movements in the AGSRC between the 1993/94 and 1994/95 financial years. The variation between these two years is 2.5%.

The Regulations provide for capital grants for 1996 to be supplemented by tile BPI for cost movements between December 1994 and December 1995. The variation between these two years is 2.2%.

The effect of the Regulations is to provide an additional $72.5 million in 1996 for recurrent programs. For capital grants, the cost of the movement in the BPI is $7.1 million for 1996.

The supplementation applies to both government and non-government school sectors.

Details of the Regulations are below.

Regulation 1: Amendment

Provides that the Regulations amend the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Regulations.

Regulation 2:       Regulation 3A (Cost supplementation - recurrent grants in the 1994, 1995 and 1996 program years)

Provides for a new regulation, regulation 3A, to prescribe a number in respect of the program year 1996.

Regulation 3: (Cost supplementation - capital grants)

Provides for a new regulation, regulation 4, to prescribe a number in respect of the program year 1996.