asked the Minister for Labour the number of firms under the joint AnCO/European Social Fund industrial training scheme in 1977 who have not yet presented claims for moneys due to them; and the implications of this for other firms.
Written Answers. - Industrial Training Scheme.
54.
In 1977 under the training grants scheme for domestic industry AnCO approved grants for 60 firms and the European Commission approved matching grants from the European Social Fund in all cases. To date, 28 of those 60 firms have not presented claims in respect of grants approved for 1977 training, either from AnCO or the Social Fund. Claims for payment from the remaining 32 firms have been submitted. In all those cases the AnCO grants have been paid and claims for matching Social Fund grants have been submitted to the European Commission.
So far as AnCO grants are concerned, the fact that some firms have not submitted claims has had no implications for those firms which have submitted their claims. As regards Social Fund grants, in the initial stages of dealing with the claims approved in 1977, (i.e. early in 1978) claims were not submitted to the Commission until a sufficient number was received to be submitted together to Brussels. Since that initial stage, however, all claims received have been sent to the Commission very quickly. Unfortunately, however, the Commission requested that some claims should be represented on a different basis and this has caused some delays in payments. Every effort is being made to ensure that payments are made as quickly as possible.