Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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308. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason for an underspend in the budget allocation 2015 for supervision of €1.5 million on the labour activation programme, community employment; the details of where the surplus went to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30211/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Community Employment (CE) Scheme funds are drawn down as required on a regular basis over the course of the year based on projected expenditure which is closely monitored by the Department. If the full allocation for any scheme is not required in any given year, funds will not be drawn down from the Exchequer.Various factors may have led to lower than estimated supervisory expenditure in 2015. Approximately 50 supervisors per year retire from CE. These supervisors are usually at the top of the pay scale and may subsequently be replaced with new supervisors at the entry point of the scale (and therefore the overall costs of supervision will decrease). Supervisors who are on long-term sickness would not be receiving pay from their CE employment for the duration of the absence (they would instead appear as a cost against the illness benefit scheme). If a Sponsor organisation took some time to fill a CE supervisor vacancy, this would also reduce the supervision expenditure. Another possible factor is supervisors requesting reductions in their working hours (which also reduces their salary pro rata).

It should also be noted that with the improving economy and reducing numbers on the Live Register, there is a lessening demand for places on employment schemes such as CE and this is also leading to reduced overall expenditure.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.