John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter and I thank the Minister for Social Protection for attending this debate. In the budget it was announced that the training and materials grant for community employment schemes was to be reduced from €1,500 to €500. When a project is approved by FÁS, a contract is entered into for a 12-month period. Many schemes were signed up for towards the end of last year and will run until October or November 2012. In those cases, most of the money was spent or taken account of before the cuts were implemented on 1 January. In the aftermath of the budget, I welcome the Minister's decision to review the schemes. The review started in the last few days, but what good is that if the schemes are already being cut back? Contracts have been entered into. In recent months we heard of highly paid civil servants who had entered into contracts for large pensions which cannot be changed, yet people on CE schemes can have their payments cut off with a few weeks notice.

In my own constituency there are 40 projects with approximately 850 participants. These people and the projects in which they participate support local communities by offering a myriad of services, including child care, village enhancement and meals-on-wheels. I see Deputy Dara Calleary on the other side of the House. He will know of the work of CE schemes for the Moy salmon festival.

I ask the Minister to allow existing contracts to be honoured and to postpone the changes proposed in the review until the current schemes are being renewed.

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Like Deputy O'Mahony, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this issue. I speak on behalf of the 19 schemes, with 326 participants, in my county of Carlow. One of these schemes, the Carlow regional youth service, employs 15 people at present. Last year, five of the seven new participants in that scheme graduated to employment. One went on to retraining and only one went back to the social welfare system. The level of progression is very good.

These are not one-size-fits-all schemes. A scheme working in the disability sector would be totally different from one attached to a sports club, for example. The training issue is important. Individual training is important if people are to progress to employment. If the training element were to move to the VEC system, as is suggested, we would have one bland system which would not help the whole programme.

There has been much talk about bad schemes and schemes that have been abused. There are also many very good schemes in the system. When the review is completed, will the schemes that have passed the review with flying colours be entitled to their full grant application?

Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue and I thank the Minister for being in attendance.

Deputies O'Mahony and Deering have spelled out our concerns. Since this measure was announced in the budget, I have met participants of many of the schemes, particularly in east Galway where there are 33 schemes and where hundreds of people will be affected. Some of these schemes have already had their funding cut. Having met them and seen the work they do it is clear that many of the people who avail of these schemes go on to further employment, having availed of the training offered. The schemes are working and are doing the job they are supposed to do.

Will schemes whose funding has been cut before the review has taken place have the money to complete their contracts, whether they end in March or continue until the summer? Will schemes that prove they are doing the job properly receive the same level of funding as last year?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I thank the Deputies who raised this issue.

I am happy to have responsibility for community employment from 1 January. These schemes play an important role in our communities, in particular by providing services which have an intrinsic social value like helping the disabled to live independently or delivering meals-on-wheels and other services to our older citizens. This is a point that tends to get lost in some of the purely economic analysis of CE schemes, which views them as not delivering sufficient progression into the labour market. While it is true that many CE schemes do need to improve the manner in which they provide labour activation services, there will always be a role for schemes that are primarily directed towards the provision of crucial social services, often for disadvantaged communities who are in dire need of services like child care, elderly care and drug treatment programmes.

The intrinsic social value of these schemes is not captured by conventional economic models but this is more a failing of conventional economics than of the schemes themselves. As Minister for Social Protection, I am determined to ensure that the contribution of such schemes is recognised in any future decisions on the future operation, funding and role of community employment.

The Department of Social Protection has agreed that an initial review of the financial resources of individual community employment schemes will commence in January 2012. The timeframe for completion of the local examination is the end of March 2012. The outcomes will inform the overall approach to be taken by the Department in implementing these reductions.

The terms of reference for the review have been circulated to regional management. To ensure consistency in approach by Department regions, a template or schedule outlining the areas for the financial review was designed and this is the basis of the review at scheme level.

The terms of reference are as follows. First, to examine the income and funding of sponsoring organisations in terms of their ability to continue the programme with reduced funding from the Department. There are community and voluntary sponsoring organisations that receive funding from a multiplicity of state agencies. Second, to quantify the expenditure on training provided and the qualifications achieved by participants. Third, alternative sources of support will be examined particularly with reference to funding from other State agencies to avoid duplication. Fourth, to establish if income is generated by scheme activity and the potential for utilisation of these funds to cover project costs.

The review process has commenced and Department staff have begun engagement with sponsors and community employment supervisors at local level. I wish to emphasise the following point to Deputies Connaughton, Deering and O'Mahony. Staff are advised that schemes which have committed expenditure to eligible costs will be reimbursed where this has been approved by Department regional staff under existing arrangements. Let me be clear. If changes in the training and material grant announced in the budget create financial difficulties for schemes, the Department of Social Protection will continue to provide funding for those schemes and funding has been made available in this context.

Separately, the former FÁS research unit, which has joined the Department of Social Protection, has been asked to complete a strategic value for money review of a number of schemes administered by the Department. Community employment will be reviewed as part of this exercise. The outcome of this review will guide future policy development and is expected to be completed by the end of March.

It is most important for schemes to be in full communication with the management with whom they dealt in FÁS and who are now officials of the Department of Social Protection. That is critical.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. She said that if changes in the training and material grant announced in the budget cause financial difficulties funding will continue to be provided if schemes are in trouble. Schemes have been in trouble since 1 January, based on what their plans were. Is the Minister saying that if a programme is signed up to it will be funded until it is due for renewal? My information is that the regional staff have no discretion in this matter but that it is being implemented from 1 January.

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Again, I raise the training issue. For participants to progress to employment they must have individual training, as far as possible. If training goes back into the VEC system, as was suggested, the individualisation of training will be lost and the prospect of participants progressing to employment will be lessened.

Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister saying that any scheme that runs from March 2011 to March 2012 and has spent its funding will be okay, and that its shortfall will be taken care of? Could she consider other CE scheme costs, such as insurance and auditing, which eat up huge chunks of a scheme's budget before it even gets a chance to spend money on training and materials?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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As the Deputies appreciate, the schemes only came under my remit on 1 January. They will make a very important contribution. The Government, in the budget, maintained the numbers and its commitments to the schemes. It is important that this message goes out.

With regard to schemes that have contracts, as described by a number of Deputies, if the scheme representatives deal on a one-to-one basis with regional social welfare employment officials, formerly FÁS officials, who are now managing them, they will note contracts which are legal commitments will be honoured to the point when they arise again. We are undertaking that no scheme will be forced to close until after the review has been completed. It is important to understand that, in the context of the troika, the criticism of activation and the budget we have been given, we have been asked to find savings. We need to find them. I accept Deputy Deering's point that there is definitely scope for saving with regard to shared insurance costs and other shared costs. I cannot, however, emphasise enough how critical it is for schemes to be in communication with former FÁS management, who are now officials in the Department of Social Protection.