Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Community employment, CE, is the largest employment programme administered by the Department of Social Protection and forms an important pillar of the strategy to return those who are long-term unemployed to the open labour market. There are currently 23,300 places, including about 1,400 supervisory positions, available on CE and the revised budget for 2012 is about €340 million. There has been no reduction in the number of CE places or in the number of supervisors for 2012. The programme addresses the multiple needs of people who are often far from ready for employment and experiencing a range of social and economic problems by operating within local and community contexts and responding to needs identified by a variety of community groups.

Earlier this year, a financial review of individual CE schemes was undertaken by local staff in the Department. This was a valuable exercise which resulted in an increased understanding and improved communication between the parties involved. I want to take the opportunity to thank all of the scheme sponsors for their co-operation with this review and for implementing the necessary changes arising from it. So far, savings have been achieved in audit and insurance costs. There has been a refocusing on the importance of the programme in the lives of individual jobseekers and the supports the CE schemes give to local communities. The Department is committed to reforming CE to ensure delivery of service, value for money and the progression of individuals under the programme. The broad policy direction for CE in 2013 and future years will be based on the main action points coming from the CE financial review which was recently published by the Department. These include restructuring smaller schemes into more cost-effective units of provision. This will involve bringing together similar types of scheme and strengthening the viability of schemes, particularly in rural communities. For sponsoring organisations that have a number of CE schemes, it will involve amalgamating these into larger entities, thus saving on operational costs such as audit fees. I am also considering having schemes approved on a multi-annual basis instead of on an annual basis, as is the current practice.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

This will give an opportunity for schemes to have more focused actions in extended timeframes, which will enhance their capacity to meet the objectives of CE.

In addition, the Department is currently finalising a review of employment support schemes, which includes CE. This will provide a broader perspective on how such schemes contribute to the Department’s activation policy and how this can best be maximised.

See this speech in context