Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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443. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided for the 'skills for better business' initiative in 2022; and the estimated cost of increasing that funding by 5%, 10%, 25% and 50%, in tabular form. [27508/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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(A)Budget Allocation for Skills for Better Business

(B)Hypothetical Cost of Increasing the Budget for Skills for Better Business

The tables above show (A) the current budget allocation for Skills for Better Business for 2023 and (B) calculations of what four specific hypothetical increases to that budget would amount to.

Skills for Better Business was launched on 30^thNovember. It is a two-part initiative aimed at assisting SME owners and managers across Ireland. It comprises an Online Tool for management skills assessment, complemented by a sign-posting resource providing quick contact information for management education and training.

The Online Tool is designed to make it easy for time-poor SME owners and managers to carry out an initial assessment of their own management skills. Once they complete the questionnaire, they receive a short report detailing where they may need to focus. They are then directed to the Skills for Better Business: Courses and Contacts pages on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s website to find a training or education provider to support them in the next steps of their journey.

The 14 project partners involved in delivering Skills for Better Business are: Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Skillnet Ireland; Enterprise Ireland; SOLAS; the Small Firms Association (SFA); ISME; the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs); the Regional Skills Fora; the Higher Education Authority (HEA); the Higher Education Colleges Association (HECA); Chambers Ireland; Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI); the Irish Universities Association (IUA); and the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA).

The direct cost of the Online Tool, at €60,300, is only a small part of the resource input into the project. Different sub-groups of the 14 partners worked on the Online Tool, the Courses & Contacts pages, and the Comms Strategy for the project. The contribution in time and expertise from all involved was very substantial throughout. The project is continuing in a similar manner in 2023, the focus being to maintain and promote the website on which the online tool is located.

Skills for Better Business is currently being promoted by the project partners, led by my Department. It is important that the message gets out to SME owners and managers across Ireland that Skills for Better Business is now launched and its resources are available. We want SMEs to make use of the Online Tool and engage with management education and training providers to identify the courses they need to improve their management skills and practices.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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444. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided for the MODOS training programme in 2022; and the estimated cost of expanding the MODOS training programme across all LEOs. [27509/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are a ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports to those wishing to start or grow their own business and act as a ‘signposting’ service for all government supports available to the SME sector. The LEOs can provide information and referrals to other relevant bodies under agreed protocols.

The MODOS Training Programme, which is a joint initiative of Dublin City Council and the Eastern-Midlands Regional Waste Management Planning Office, is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This training programme is promoted by LEO Dublin City on behalf of Dublin City Council’s Economic Development Unit and is an example of the ‘signposting’ service provided by the LEOs.

As this is not funded by the LEOs or my Department, I do not have data on the cost of the programme. As the funding for MODOS is provided by the EPA, this matter can be addressed to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications for response.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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445. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided for the 'lean for micro' programme in 2022; and the estimated cost of increasing that funding for each programme by 5%, 10%, 25% and 50%, in tabular form. [27510/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Office Lean for Micro programme is designed to encourage clients to adopt lean business principles in their organisations to increase performance and competitiveness. The programme is open to all micro-enterprises and non-Enterprise Ireland/IDA clients employing between 10-50 on a limited basis in consultation with the LEO.

Lean tools and techniques are helping companies of all sizes and sectors, across the globe to address competitiveness issues within their businesses by building the capability of their people to identify problems, improve operations and create a more innovative organisation.

Funding allocated under the Department's A8 subhead includes a capital allocation for LEO financial grant assistance and also for management training and development, mentoring, consultancy and entrepreneurship education programmes, including the Lean for Micro programme. The funding is subsequently allocated to each of the 31 LEOs based on their Local Authority banding.

Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs agree the distribution of the budget across each of the different programmes based on previous and projected demand. At the end of each year the LEOs report their total outturn under each measure and in 2022 the LEO network provided €941k for the Lean Programme.

The table below indicates the estimated increased budget for the Lean Programme, based on 2022 outturn: