The programmes referred to by the Deputy are aided by the European Structural Funds under the Operational Programme for Human Resources Development. An indicative amount of aid per annum and a total allocation over the period 1994-99 is designated for each measure included in the Operational Programme.
Where the target level of expenditure on any measure in the education sector was not reached to warrant the drawdown of the maximum approved aid level for a particular year, the monitoring committee to date, has approved the redistribution of the unspent aid within the same measure over the remaining years of the programme and a revised financial plan for the measure has been agreed by the European Commission.
The current financial plan for the Operational Programme was approved by the monitoring committee in October 1996. The final claims for aid from the European Social Fund for 1996, which are being compiled in my Department at present, will be measured against the maximum level of aid approved in respect of 1996 under the revised financial plan.
With regard to the programme in question, the current position is as follows
Equal Opportunities consists of a range of actions aimed at combatting gender stereotyping and the promotion of equal opportunities. Actions under this measure are grouped under three main headings: curricular interventions, support for parents and, especially, mothers of preschool children wishing to participate in education. Support for voluntary or community women's education groups.
In approving the revised financial plan for the measure in October 1996 the monitoring committee agreed that £2.05 million of the ESF aid allocation would be allocated over the period 1997 to 1999 to support child care provision for participants on the VTOS and Youthreach programmes, £600,000 would be allocated for grants to voluntary women's groups and the remaining sum would continue to support curriculum interventions.