Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the value of fees charged by local enterprise offices to start-ups and existing micro-enterprise clients in mentoring sessions provided in one-to-one business advice clinics in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; if there is a set fee in each LEO office; the average fee charged for a mentoring session annually; the limit of the number of sessions a start-up or micro-enterprise client can participate in during the year; and the number of sessions that took place in each year over the period in question. [46993/19]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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109. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the value of all fees charged by external experts to micro-enterprises client of local enterprise offices for mentoring sessions provided on an appointment basis in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; if there is a set fee for a mentoring session; the average fee charged for a mentoring session annually; the limit of the number of sessions a micro-enterprise client can participate in during the year; and the number of sessions that took place in each year over the period in question. [46994/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 109 together.

The network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), located in the Local Authorities nationwide is the ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports for anyone intending to start or grow a business.

The Mentor Programme is designed to match up the knowledge, skills, insights and entrepreneurial capability of experienced business practitioners with small business owners or managers who need practical and strategic one to one advice and guidance. The mentor contributes independent, informed observation and advice to aid decision making. All applications for mentor assistance are dealt with individually and are preceded by a business needs analysis to assess the key needs of the business and determine the most imperative mentoring objectives.

The following table shows the LEO Mentor expenditure for the years 2016 -2019.

Local Enterprise Office Mentor Expenditure, €, 2016, 2017, 2018 and Q1-Q3 2019

There is no national policy that limits the number of assignments a micro-enterprise client can participate in during the year. The LEOs have the discretion to set their own policy in this area.

LEO Mentoring is recorded as Assignments and Visits. An assignment is the overall mentoring project undertaken by the client with each assignment consisting of one or more visits. The number of mentoring visits as part of an assignment is a matter for each LEO to decide in consultation with the mentor. In 2016, the number of LEO Mentoring assignments that took place was 3,018 with 12,035 assignment visits taking place that year. In 2017, this saw an increase to 4,064 and 12,303 respectively. In 2018, Mentoring Assignments increased by 44% to 5,870 while Mentoring Visits increased by 7% to 13,091. To date in 2019, there has been 4,905 Mentoring assignments and 11,236 Mentoring visits completed.

The LEO mentoring Programme has grown year on year and is an asset to businesses who need practical and strategic one to one advice and guidance. The LEOs will continue to work with the broad range of indigenous enterprises across sectors to ensure soft supports in the form of training, mentoring and targeted programmes are available to businesses and individuals who engage with the LEO network.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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110. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of mentoring sessions provided to LEO clients in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; and the annual allocation for LEO mentoring services in each year over this period and the budget 2020 allocation. [46995/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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LEO Mentoring is recorded as Assignments and Visits. An assignment is the overall mentoring project undertaken by the client with each assignment consisting of one or more visits. The number of mentoring visits as part of an assignment is a matter for each LEO to decide in consultation with the mentor. The following tables detail the number of assignments and visits per LEO in the years 2016 to date 2019.

There is not a specific budget allocation for LEO mentoring. It is included in the LEOs overall Measure 2 allocation.

2016

2017

2018

2019