Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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150. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total spend on external contractors, consultancy services and other outsourcing in 2018 and 2019. [46934/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Regarding information technology, my Department engages service providers (individuals or organisations) to provide assistance with specific technical skills and projects.  The procurement of such services supports my Department in providing a high-quality service to the public in a cost-effective manner and is governed by a comprehensive regulatory framework.

The total expenditure by my Department on consultancy and IT external service provision for the period in question is set out in the following tables.  A detailed breakdown of my Department’s expenditure on these areas is available to view on the gov.ie website: assets.gov.ie/42112/a905be30b85b49d29e2fddb221c1cd92.pdf#page=1.

In addition, my Department outsources various necessary services, such as cleaning and translation services (for example sign language interpretation, official documents translated into Irish, etc.) where it is cost-effective to do so.  Contracts awarded for such services in 2018 and 2019 is set out in out in the following tables.  Details of all contracts awarded by my Department over €25,000 and a list of purchase orders for €20,000 and above, is published on gov.ie: www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Procurement-Policy.aspx

To meet my Department’s policy objectives of providing employment support services to jobseekers to assist them into employment, the Department contracts external employment services through four programmes - JobPath, Local Employment Services (LES), JobClubs and Employability.  The externally contracted provision provides the Department with additional employment support capacity and access to specialised skills to meet the job search support and employment services requirements of jobseekers.  My Department has committed in a number of policy documents (for example, the Make Work Pay for People with Disabilities Report, the Social Inclusion Strategy, and Pathways to Work) to extend employment support services to a wider range of cohorts including people with disabilities, lone parents and qualified adults.  It is important that the Department maintains sufficient employment support capacity to meet current and future needs in order to be able to provide a high-quality service to these individuals and respond effectively and quickly to rises in unemployment like the one caused by the public health crisis. caused by Covid-19.  The following table shows the expenditure on same for the relevant period.

Expenditure amounts for 2018 & 2019