Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Vice Chairman has asked me a number of questions. I will try to answer them. With regard to the PUP, we have collected a lot of data on the numbers in receipt of the payment. I do not have it to hand, but I have asked my officials for a breakdown with particular regard to those who have been on the PUP for the long term, that is, those who have been on it since last March, because we want to see the sectors affected and how we can get people back to work again.

I will launch a pathways to work strategy in early June that will look at all the different supports we can give people to help them find employment. This could mean we need to retrain or upskill so there are a number of apprenticeship schemes and we are looking at a work placement support system. The main thing we want to do is help people find new jobs. Some may not go back to the jobs they had previously so we want to give them that support and confidence. This is also important because I speak to people, including older people and people who have been out of work for a long time, who will need confidence building because they have been at home or have not been out there in the workplace. We have all been out working and it is easier for us but for those who have not been, it is about giving them the support they will need to go back into the workplace. That is what the pathways to work programme will help to address.

I am particularly conscious of young people. We maintained the PUP for students. I was very strong in respect of doing this because I felt students lost their jobs in the same way as everybody did when this pandemic hit. We have continued to make the payment to them. Thankfully, as the economy reopens, we can look to a brighter future. I know there are a lot of young people who are just dying to get back to work and want to get out, meet their friends and return to normality. I expect that as the economy opens further, we will see a lot of people who will take up employment and return to work.

In respect of miscellaneous services, that expenditure includes ex gratiapayments to women from the Magdalen laundries and other institutions, a small rent allowance scheme for people affected by the de-control of rents and information grants. The food aid programme under the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived is also included. The provision for miscellaneous services in 2021 is €20.9 million. When we were putting together budget 2021, we expected that the economy would reopen. None of us thought we would be in lockdown in January so the figures were produced on the basis that life would start to return to normality but that did not happen, which is why in respect of a lot of the figures referred to by the Vice Chairman, there was an underspend in 2020 and an anticipated increase in expenditure for 2021.

I think I have covered most points. Other employment supports include an enterprise support grant, which aims to get people back to work; a training support grant; a credit union loan guarantee where we help people when they need to take out a loan; a part-time job initiative; an activation and family support project; and payments to long-term unemployed and lone parents. There are a number of different things. These are all working-age employment supports. I can get the Vice Chairman more details on that. Regarding e-government expenditure, it is necessary because we are investing in online and digital services. The experience of the pandemic has shown that many customers want to interact with us digitally. We all know that ourselves. We are doing our banking over the phone and want to be able to interact with Government services digitally.

I hope I have answered all the Vice Chairman's questions. The school meals programme has been a great pilot. I have increased it this year. My view is that it is hard to beat a hot meal in the middle of the day for schoolchildren. I am very supportive of that. We will carry out a review of it because the Vice Chairman is right. We want to make sure we are not wasting food and that the food has good nutritional value. I am still of the opinion that a good hot dinner in the middle of the day is great for children. It helps their concentration and is delivered to them in the schools. I am a big supporter of that. We have expanded the pilot scheme and I will continue to review that.