Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

The Department's estimated overall expenditure on employment support schemes in 2012 is €983 million, which represents an increase of almost €121 million on the 2011 figure. Some €315 million has been provided for community employment this year in respect of some 23,300 participants. In addition, approximately 1,400 supervisors are paid by the Department. The Department is engaged in two reviews that impact on community employment. One of them is a review of labour market activation schemes generally and the other is a financial review of community employment schemes that aims to secure savings in the expenditure on materials and training grants in 2012, compared to 2011. After changes to the training and materials grant for community employment schemes were announced in budget 2012, I made a commitment that no scheme would close pending the completion of the financial review. This financial review is now nearing completion. To date, no scheme has been closed as a result of reductions to the materials and training grants. The review has proved to be a valuable exercise for the schemes and for the Department. The review is now close to completion. Given the volume and breadth of the data being returned by community employment sponsors, no final allocations of materials and training grants will be determined pending its completion. Community employment sponsors are working with the Department's community development officers to ensure adequate funding is available for the continuation of their projects.

Deputies are aware that the current economic circumstances have forced the Department to find significant savings in its 2012 budget. In the case of community employment, the reduction in the grant for materials and training represents a reduction of 7.5% of the overall expenditure on community employment in 2011. The allowance grants for supervisors are unchanged, as are the working hours for staff employed under community employment. There has been no decrease in the number of community employment places allocated in 2012. It is not possible to restore funding to 2011 levels. The baseline amount of the materials and training grant remains €500 per participant, as announced in the budget. However, the Department has discretion to make up to €1,000 per participant available to schemes in respect of the training and materials grant, subject to individual schemes providing a clear and transparent demonstration of the need for this level of funding. The onus is on sponsors to make the case for the appropriate grant levels for their individual schemes. The level of grant sought will have to be justified by the scheme sponsor and will be subject to verification and agreement by the Department on a case by case basis. Discussions with sponsors on these matters are being conducted in a constructive manner. Support is being provided to help the schemes remain viable. The existing commitment in relation to the financial support of schemes will continue to apply pending the full completion of the review process. We have also been working on reducing the fixed costs that have to be met in operating the community employment programme. We have already obtained significant savings in the cost of insurance to sponsors. We are confident of obtaining similar reductions in the areas of accountancy fees and bank charges.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

A policy review of activation measures is under way. This review will be completed in the next few months. There is a role for schemes that are primarily directed towards the provision of crucial social services to disadvantaged communities, such as child care, elderly care and drug treatment programmes. The intrinsic value of these schemes needs to be more broadly recognised in terms of the economic contribution made by the provision of these services, which otherwise would fall back on the State to provide at a much higher cost. When both reviews are completed, it is my intention to have a stakeholders' seminar on community employment, most probably to take place in June or July.

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