Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Pobal delivers a range of publicly and EU-funded programmes on behalf of a number of Departments. My reply concerns services delivered by Pobal in respect of the rural social scheme and the community services programme that transferred to the Department of Social Protection last September following the reconfiguration of Government functions announced in March 2010. Pobal operates under the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which has an oversight and co-ordination role in respect of the company. Members of the board of Pobal are appointed by the Government from nominations provided by the social partners and other stakeholders. The company is subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General and its operations are covered by the Freedom of Information and Ethics in Public Offices Acts.

The fees paid to Pobal in respect of work undertaken are matters for each individual Department. I have provided a table for the Deputy of the fees paid in respect of the rural social scheme since it commenced in 2004 and for the community services programme since it commenced operations in 2006. Both programmes fell under the former Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and latterly, the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs prior to the transfer to the Department of Social Protection.

The services provides to the Department of Social Protection relate to payroll and some related functions on the rural social scheme and Tús. Around 2,600 participants and 130 supervisors are paid weekly by Pobal on the rural social scheme. Pobal has begun to make weekly payroll payments in respect of Tús, the new community work placement initiative which is currently being rolled-out nationally. Some 5,000 weekly payments are planned for Tús when it is fully operational.

The services provided on the community services programme are significantly different than the former and encompass application management, appraisal and assessment, contract maintenance, distribution and management of payments by instalments to service providers, monitoring of progress, various support to beneficiaries, risk audit, financial verification, control and inspections and advice on service development to each of the 445 service providers currently in contract to the programme. The Minister of the day approves all applications for funding from the community services programme following detailed assessment and recommendation by Pobal.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

While it is possible that the services provided by Pobal could be provided internally by my Department or other Departments, it is unlikely that significant savings would arise given that staff resources would need to be redeployed, systems would require development and the necessary expertise in providing advice to the sectors concerned may not be readily available.

Additionally, because Pobal delivers funding on behalf of a number of Departments involved in supporting services in the not-for-profit, community and voluntary sectors, the company is in a unique position to bring considerable value-added because of its comprehensive knowledge of the sectors. The central administration and integration of services offered by the company across the various programmes and the fact that the same staff work on a number of programmes are considerable strengths which would not be easily replicated if Departments separately implemented programmes.

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