Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank Senator Whelan for his kind remarks and I acknowledge and reiterate the importance of community employment in the provision of crucial services to both rural and urban communities across the country.

There are 1,143 CE schemes in operation nationally, with 23,300 places, on which there are around 22,000 participants and approximately 1,400 full-time supervisor posts. Work on these schemes covers a diverse range of activities such as child care, horticulture, social services, cultural and arts activities, IT, sports, environmental, heritage, clerical and administrative and drugs rehabilitation. The overall estimated budget will be in excess of €315 million for 2012.

Due to the current economic circumstances facing the country and the need for the Department to find substantial savings in the context of the budget, it is necessary to examine all aspects of expenditure of my Department on an ongoing basis. It was against this backdrop that the financial review of CE schemes got underway a couple of months ago. The schemes were transferred to the Department on 1 January. The main objective was to identify areas where savings could be achieved through efficiencies so that best use could be made of the available funds in the context of the important work that is done for local communities and in order that participants have a good quality experience that offers the possibility of progressing into work.

As a result of the review, significant savings have been already made to the overheads of CE projects in terms of annual insurance costs and audit fees. The savings will increase next year as some projects had already incurred these costs prior to the new arrangements being in place. Given the volume and breadth of the data being returned, the review has taken longer than anticipated to complete but it is important to point out that this has allowed more time for schemes to engage with local officials in the finalisation of their respective budgets and for the Department to bring forward improvements to the overall operation of CE which will improve the budgetary situation for schemes. We must bear in mind that 700 FÁS staff joined the Department, along with the 23,000 people on the schemes. This has been a major change under the Croke Park model.

I am happy to tell the House that the review is now complete and schemes will receive notification of their revised allocations by the end of this week from their local departmental offices.

Under the revised arrangements to be notified to sponsors, schemes will no longer be given universal amounts of financial support but instead will be provided with a specific level of support aimed at meeting the particular costs necessarily incurred by them, having regard to the overall level of funding available for community employment nationally.

As Senators will appreciate, the review is of interest and importance to the many stakeholders involved. Accordingly, I will ensure stakeholders will be able to respond to the findings.

It is worth noting that a separate labour market activation schemes policy review is under way because my Department is spending almost €1 billion on various forms of activation and employment support. This review, which is nearing completion, will also help to inform the Department's strategic approach to the schemes, including the community employment programme.

I assure Senators that the Department is committed to supporting the community employment programme and the valuable contribution it is making to the provision of services to individuals and communities. I anticipate that the employment managers involved in the schemes from the Department will contact schemes from tomorrow in regard to allocations in respect of materials and training. This will be very much influenced by the submissions made by scheme organisers. I am putting into place an appeals mechanism for scheme organisers who are unhappy with what they have received.