Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 112 of 14 December 2011, the number of legal cases taken against County Cork Vocational Education Committee in each of the years since 2000 that have been subject to a court hearing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8761/12]

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 112 of 14 December 2011, the number of legal cases taken against County Cork Vocational Education Committee in each of the years since 2000 relating to employment legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8762/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 114 together.

The Deputy will appreciate that the information requested by him is not held by my Department, as such cases are a matter for County Cork VEC.

Further to Parliamentary Question No. 112 of 14 December 2011, my officials again contacted the VEC which confirmed that it would require an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile the information sought.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 112 of 14 December 2011, the total amount of legal costs spent by Cork County Vocational Education Committee in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8763/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the accounts of Co Cork VEC, which for most of the years in question are stored in an off site location. Officials from my Department are arranging for the documents to be retrieved and the information will be collated and forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has raised any issues with Cork County Vocational Education Committee in respect of its spending of its grant in aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8764/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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My Department has raised a number of issues with Co Cork VEC in relation to the expenditure of its funding. These relate to ineffective expenditure on an IT project that was the subject of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), in accordance with Section 7 of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993, and to an internal audit report on Macroom Youthreach centre.

The C&AG's report found that the processes employed by the Co Cork VEC in this case were defective in regard to certain aspects of procurement, that the approval of the Minister had not been sought to enter into a leasing agreement, that the financial risk associated with the arrangement rested mainly with the VEC and that the contract was inadequate.

Resulting from this report my Department issued Circular 39/2011 "Good Practice Guidelines in relation to Contracts for the Provision of Goods and/or Services" to the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the VECs in June 2011. Circular 39/2011 informed VECs that, whether commissioning public services or providing them directly, they have a duty to strive for economy, efficiency, transparency and effectiveness in their expenditure.

The Circular drew the attention of VECs to their obligations with regard to procurement, to the importance of adherence to EU Directives and national regulations in regard to advertising, and to the use of objective tendering procedures for awarding contracts above certain value thresholds.

The guidelines also dealt with the evaluation of proposals, borrowing/leasing, and the reporting of losses.

The Secretary General of my Department also wrote recently to each CEO, in the context of the Co Cork VEC report and a number of other C&AG Section 7 reports, reminding each of their responsibility, as accounting officer, to ensure that value is achieved in the engagement of services and the procurement of goods. CEOs were reminded that, as public servants, they have a responsibility to ensure that funds provided by the Exchequer are expended in a manner which is economic, efficient, transparent, and effective and achieves the very best value for the taxpayer.

An internal audit report on Macroom Youthreach centre was received in my Department on 29 September 2011. On receipt of the report my officials wrote to the acting CEO of Co Cork VEC and sought a report on how the irregularities highlighted arose, how it was proposed to rectify them, or if already rectified how this was accomplished, and how it was proposed to safeguard against their recurrence in the future. The acting CEO confirmed to my Department that the recommendations of the internal audit had been implemented, however, my Department has sought clarification from the acting CEO on any possible losses arising.