Mr Murphy asked the Minister for Education, Science and Training, upon notice, on 13 October 2003:

(1) Further to the answer to question No. 2267 (Hansard, 8 October 2003, page 20856), what preliminary analysis indicates a downward pressure on the rate of increase of non-government school fees.

(2) What will be the total cost of Socio-Economic Status (SES) index-based funding before a definitive analysis of the effect of the SES funding model is publicly available.

Dr Nelson (Minister for Education, Science and Training) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

(1) The preliminary analysis is based on the Financial Questionnaire for Non-Government Schools which is an annual collection of financial information from non-government schools receiving Australian Government general recurrent grants.

(2) Total funding under the SES funding arrangements for the 2001-2004 quadrennium is outlined below. Increased funding for schools funded on their SES scores is being phased-in at the rate of 25 per cent each year of the quadrennium and, therefore, the SES model will not be fully implemented until the end of 2004.