Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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263. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress of a social clause project group, as established by him, and an office (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40224/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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On 9 June I announced the establishment of a Social Clauses Project Group to pro-actively look at projects with a view to including social clauses to ensure those awarded contracts contribute to employment or training opportunities for long term unemployed.

The Group is chaired by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP).

There are nominees from the following departments and organisations:

- a representative of the Local Government sector,

- the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation,

- the Department of Social Protection (Intreo),

- the Department of Education (Solas),

- the Health Service Executive,

- the National Roads Authority,

- the National Development Finance Agency,

- Pobal,

- the Office of Public Works, and

- the Chief State's Solicitor's Office (providing legal assistance).

Specific projects that are currently in planning and are deemed potentially suitable for the inclusion of employment opportunities and social inclusion will be identified and targeted to maximise the potential opportunities from these projects.

The expected outcomes from this pilot project are:

- the identification of suitable policy priorities to be addressed through the insertion of social clauses in public contracts;

- guidance in relation to suitable candidate project types and spend areas;

- examples of suitable contract clauses developed in conjunction with the Chief State Solicitor's Office; and,

- the design of a monitoring and reporting framework which can be applied to future projects where social clauses are to be used.

To date the Social Clauses Group has met twice; on 10 July and 11 September and priority areas have been identified and forwarded to the relevant procurement sectors with a view to identifying potential projects where social clauses can be usefully included to match the prioriries of the group. The pilot project is to be reviewed after 12 months.The Government is committed to driving an ambitious reform programme designed to modernise the public sector and improve service delivery.  Public procurement is seen as a key element of this programme, not only in terms of the potential to deliver much needed public services in a more efficient manner but also as a platform to facilitate policy in areas such as employment, training and sustainability.