Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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180. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the analysis her Department has carried out into the impact of the change to the new regional employment service model on local employment services and jobs clubs; the details on the second phase of the tender process; the timeline for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35305/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In December 2019, my Department engaged external consultants, IES and Social Finance, to carry out a review of all public employment services, including EmployAbility, Job Clubs, JobPath and the Local Employment Services.

The consultants in their review engaged extensively with current employment service providers and other stakeholders in the process including representative bodies for the unemployed. Their review makes a significant contribution to the ongoing process of procuring contracted employment service capacity to supplement the existing capacity of my Department's Intreo offices.

The IES and Social Finance review reiterated the findings of the earlier 2018 Indecon Review of Job Clubs which recommended that the Department integrate LES and Job Clubs into one service, thereby reducing administrative duplication and supporting a more effective and efficient overall employment support service for those who require this support.

Many of the current LES and Job Clubs contracts have been in place for over 20 years with no competitive procurement being undertaken in that period. This is contrary to the requirements of good governance or procurement rules. The request for tender recently published and those being developed will ensure that sufficient high-quality employment services are procured in a manner that is compatible with EU and national procurement rules.

When this process is complete, there will be a significant increase in the overall level of employment services available to jobseekers across the State. This will mean that the unemployed irrespective of where they live will have access to the full range of quality employment services provided by the Public Employment Service.

The second phase of the procurement process will see new Regional Employment Services in place for January 2022.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the supports in place for the school meals programme over the summer and the extension of the hot school meals programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35337/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.

Funding under the School Meals Programme is normally confined to the academic year, but an exception has been made this summer in recognition of Covid-19. Funding under the school meals programme will remain available to schools to allow them to continue to provide food during the summer period until the start of the new academic year 2021/2022.

This extension will ensure that participating primary and secondary schools can provide food parcels benefiting thousands of pupils over the summer months.

Furthermore, funding will be made available to schools participating in the Department of Education’s School Based Education Programme, which focusses on pupils with complex special educational needs and those at risk of education disadvantage.

In Budget 2021, I announced that an additional €5.5m would be provided to extend the provision of hot school meals to an additional 35,000 primary school children, currently receiving the cold lunch option. Invitations for expressions of interest were issued to 705 primary schools. A total of 281 expressions of interest were received in respect of 52,148 children.

The 35,000 places were allocated to each local authority area based on the number of children applied by local authority as a percentage of the total number. A minimum of one school for each Local Authority area was selected. Thereafter, a process of random selection was used for each area. As a result of this process, 189 of the 281 schools that submitted an expression of interest were selected.

Due to the fact that the funding available was limited to 35,000 children, it was not possible to include all schools that submitted an expression of interest to avail of hot school meals. A number of schools which were selected decided not to proceed and these places have been reallocated to other schools.

I am committed to continuing to grow the hot school meals element of the school meals programme and building further on the significant extension announced as part of Budget 2021.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.