Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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187. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of occasions to date that a social clause has been attached to a public contract, and the project to which each has been attached to, in tabular form. [44021/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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189. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide the text of each of the social clauses attached to a public contract to date. [44023/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 187 and 189 together.

The consideration of social clauses is a matter for each contracting authority as they are best placed to gauge to appropriate clause for each contract. There are thousands of contracting authorities in the State and they are individually responsible for retaining the tender documentation for each procurement procedure that they carry out. Therefore the information requested by the Deputy in relation to the use of social clauses and the wording of each social clause is not available as such information is not collected centrally.

As part of the reform of the public procurement function the Office of Government Procurement has initiated measures to make it easier for contracting authorities to carry out public procurement in a consistent manner. One such measure was the introduction of standard procurement template documents that are used throughout the public service. These template documents make it easier for suppliers particularly SMEs to take advantage of public procurement opportunities. In relation to Social Clauses these template documents already provide for the inclusion of clauses in a number of wider policy areas that would include the following:

- Taxation and Social insurance payments

- Employment legislation

- Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005

- Waste management

- Human Rights

- Environmental legislation

Government recognises the valuable contribution that a vibrant construction sector makes to the economic and social well-being of the State and has introduced a range of measures as set out in Construction 2020A Strategy for a Renewed Construction Sector. In order to ensure that these stimulus packages generate the maximum return in relation to job creation social clauses are included in the various contracts that have been, and will be, awarded under the PPP element of the €2.25bn package announced in July 2012.  The relevant clause requires:

- At least 10% of the working hours necessary to complete the projects are undertaken by those recruited from the live register who have been unemployed for more than 12 months; and

- At least 2.5% of the working hours necessary to complete the projects are undertaken by individuals who are engaged in an approved registered apprenticeship, training or educational work placement scheme.

Overall compliance in relation to the pilot clause has been good. The Department of Social Protection and their local Intreo offices are working closely with the appointed contractors to support the pilot initiative and there has been strong positive engagement from the contractors involved in each of the projects.

Whilst Government is convinced of the merit in using social clauses in particular circumstances, it is important that contracting authorities are not compelled to use them on every contract particularly where their deployment may disproportionately impact on SME's bidding for public contracts.