Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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275. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of money being spent by community employment schemes on mandatory health and safety training, which in many instances can absorb the entire training allowance; and his plans to enable this training to be funded separately, as it leaves very little else for other training which would assist in the employability of community employment participants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16682/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The annual CE training budget for 2016 is €6m. The Sponsor as the employer must comply with the relevant health and safety legislation. Over 8,000 components of learning in mandatory CE training (including health and safety training) were completed in 2015. A breakdown of expenditure for health and safety training is not feasible due to the variation in fees and type of award and the fact that a proportion of these awards incur no costs.

A training grant is allocated to community employment (CE) schemes in respect of all approved places on a “per-place per annum” basis. Training is in accordance with a tailored individual learning plan (ILP) compiled by the CE supervisor with the participant and designed to promote progression opportunities given the participant’s training requirements and employment goals. Flexibility can be applied in approval of training rates, particularly when the training is leading to a major award e.g. in childcare. All training is approved at Divisional level. Any proposed training that exceeds the budget allocated is assessed based on the value of the training provided to furthering the employment prospects of the individual.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.