Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will consider amending public contracts such that it is a condition of all future contracts that the contractor is obliged to have a facility to register apprentices as part of carrying out the construction work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7128/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The scope for including social considerations in public contracts is something that I have been examining closely recently. In this regard, I would refer the Deputy to my recent reply on this issue (PQ 3066/13 - answered 23/01/13).

The proposal that all public procurement contracts include a requirement that the contractor must register apprentices in order to be able to carry out a public works contract poses a number of important considerations. In the current economic climate, and in particular bearing in mind the difficulties in the construction sector, it is likely that, where a business is awarded a public contract, in particular a small scale contract, the work would be carried out by the existing employees of that business. In such circumstances a social clause requiring apprentices to be employed in delivering a public contract could either impose an additional cost on SMEs that they may not be able to afford, or result in an existing employee being let go in favour of an apprentice.

The Government has a wide range of measures that it is deploying to facilitate job creation and support labour activation, with particular emphasis on assisting the long term and young unemployed either enter the labour market or be given appropriate opportunities to reskill. Obviously, the main purpose of the public procurement process is to ensure that goods, services and works are purchased by the State in a manner that is legal, transparent and of high probity, and our key requirement is the achievement of value for money. Within this context, my Department and the National Procurement Service are examining the use of social clauses as an additional means of supporting activation and we are seeking to identify the scope for the use of social clauses that could include provisions relating to training opportunities in parts of the capital area in particular.