Written answers
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Department of Social Protection
Youth Guarantee
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if any of the programmes in Ireland’s Youth Guarantee implementation plan will meet European Social Fund eligibility criteria; if so, if she will provide a list of the programmes accepted. [37360/14]
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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57. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the full annual cost of the Youth Guarantee implementation plan programmes for 2014 and 2015; and a breakdown of the different funding sources and amounts to include the youth employment Initiative and Exchequer moneys. [37361/14]
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 57 together.
The costs associated with the Youth Guarantee will be funded, in the first instance, by the Irish Exchequer. However, it is expected that a number of these Programmes will meet ESF eligibility criteria and they have been included in the Youth Employment Initiative application for Ireland. This will permit EU funding to be drawn down in respect of expenditure in 2014 and 2015 to a level that should enable the full YEI allocation for Ireland of €68.145 million in current prices (with a further similar amount in ESF funding) to be taken up over those two years.
The Department of Social Protection (DSP) proposes to claim €41.4m ESF and €35m YEI over the period 2014-2020 under the relevant ESF and YEI Operational Programmes. These claims will be submitted under arrangements with the Department of Education and Skills (DES) who are the certifying authority for the EU.
The DSP schemes covered are Tús, JobBridge, JobsPlus and Back to Work Enterprise Allowance Schemes. Expenditure relating to clients on these schemes who are under 25s will be claimed for both the ESF and YEI i.e. for every €300 of eligible expenditure submitted, €100 ESF and €100 YEI (i.e. ⅔) will refunded by the European Commission.
The DSP Youth Guarantee schemes that will attract co-funding under the ESF Operational Programme 2014-2020 are:
Table 1: ESF Funding for DSP Schemes
| - | Intermediate Body | Activity Total for ESF €m | Total for YEI1 €m | Total Matching Funding €m | Activity Total Funding 2014-2020 €m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) | DSP | 3.094 | 3.094 | 3.094 | 9.282 |
| JobsPlus Incentive Scheme | DSP | 3.333 | 3.333 | 3.333 | 10.0 |
| TUS | DSP | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 31.8 |
| JobBridge Internship scheme | DSP | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 54.0 |
Taking existing and planned provision together, table 2 below sets out our original estimates of programme uptake by young people in 2014, with associated programme costs that were published in Ireland’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan in January of this year. However, these estimates are likely to be revised downwards significantly at the end of the year given that the full rollout of several programmes have been contingent on the passing of enabling legislation which only came into effect over the summer and has therefore considerably reduced the 2014 inflow into Youth Guarantee related schemes.
It should also be noted that the figures shown in table 2 reflect partial costs only as they are set out in the format of the Irish public expenditure estimates. As noted in the footnote to the table, for example, the costs for the Back to Education Allowance scheme relate only to the income supports offered to unemployed people taking up an approved education course. They do not include the cost of the education programme itself, which in most cases is also funded by the exchequer. These figures also exclude the likely costs of additional caseworker resources to be devoted to young people as a result of the new procedures described in Section 2 of Ireland’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan. The exact level of resources involved remains to be determined in the light of early experience with the new procedures.
Estimates for the projected 2015 inflow and associated costs will only be available after Budget 2015.
Table 2: Expected participation, activation programmes, 2014
| Programme | Average participation | Inflow of new participants | Expected inflow of young people | Indicative 2014 cost of youth provision (€million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youthreach/CTC | 6,000 | 3,300 | 3,300 | 110.0 |
| JobBridge (including planned reserve) | 7,700 | 13,300 | 5,000 | 27.0 |
| Tus | 7,500 | 7,500 | 1,000 | 15.9 |
| JobsPlus | 4,000 | 2,000 | 1,500 | 4.5 |
| Momentum* | 6,500 | 6,500 | 2,000 | 6.1 |
| BTEA (excl Momentum)** | 18,500 | 9,300 | 3,300 | 60.0 |
| BTWEA | 11,000 | 5,500 | 200 | 4.1 |
| VTOS | 5,600 | 2,800 | 500 | 14.3 |
| FAS/Solas | 10,300 | 25,000 | 9,500 | 72.0 |
| CEB youth Entrepreneurship Training and Mentoring supports | 700 | 700 | 1.0 | |
| CEB/MFI micro-loans for young people | 150 | 150 | 2.5 | |
| International Work Experience and Training | 250 | 250 | 250 | 2.5 |
| Gateway | 3,000 | 3,000 | 450 | 2.5 |
| Community Employment | 25,300 | 12,700 | 500 | 14.0 |
| Total | 105,650 | 92,000 | 28,350 | 336.4 |
| Memorandum items: PLCs Apprenticeship | 35,000 8,000 | 32,000 2,500 | 22,000 2,000 | 117.0 75.0 |
| Vocational Third Level | - | It is estimated that at least 50% of the 41,000 entrants to third level each year are entering courses leading towards defined occupations | - | N/A |
| Overall total | - | - | - | 528.4 (excluding vocational third level) |
** Includes only income maintenance costs; most provision cost included in data for PLCs and Third Level under memorandum items
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