Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Total expenditure on the community employment programme in 2012 will be approximately €340 million. The number of places available on the community employment programme has remained constant at 23,300, including supervisors. The financial review of the schemes has been completed, and the Department has contacted schemes to advise them of their revised materials and training allocations. The materials and training budget for community employment schemes has been increased by €9.5 million from the original budget of approximately €11 million following transfers from savings identified elsewhere in the departmental budget. The new materials and training budget is thus €20.5 million.

Under the revised arrangements, schemes will no longer be given universal amounts of financial support but will instead be provided with specific levels of support aimed at meeting the particular costs of community employment schemes, having regard to the overall level of funding available for community employment nationally. To date, significant savings have already been made to the overheads of community employment projects in annual insurance costs and audit fees.

I am not aware of any proposals to close community employment schemes following the outcome of the financial review. I urge all schemes, supervisors and boards of management to work closely with officials of my Department to ensure community employment continues to play an important role in the provision of local community services, work experience and training opportunities. I thank the many sponsors, staff and participants in community employment schemes who co-operated with the Department's review in a positive manner.

On the training allocation for schemes, community employment participants may also access a number of Springboard, VEC and FÁS courses free of charge. I am working on this issue with the Department of Education and Skills to ensure courses are made available to participants in community employment schemes which assist them in securing employment in the future.

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