AN INCREASE in staffing costs equivalent to 50 full-time employees at the Education Department last year was down to a change in contracts, according to the minister.

Along with the Health and Social Services Department, Education was highlighted in the States accounts report for 2009 as being largely responsible for a 9% rise in staffing costs last year.

But Deputy Carol Steere (pictured) said over the course of 2009 they had to move 40 part-time teaching assistants from temporary to permanent contracts to comply with employment legislation.

‘We have not increased the budget, we’ve come in slightly under, which would indicate we have not taken on 40 extra staff. If they had been extra permanent staff we would have seen a spending increase above our budget,’ she said.

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