asked the Minister for Labour the funds made available to date to the Youth Employment Agency from the youth employment levy since its inception.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Youth Employment Agency.
23.
The Youth Employment Agency were established in March 1982 and the youth employment levy was introduced in April 1982. In 1982 the Government included a sum of £9.02 million in respect of expenditure by the agency in the provision of £41.0 million for training and employment of young persons in the Department of Labour's Estimate for that year. This year the Government included £15.0 million for such expenditure in the provision of £77.0 million in respect of the same services in my Department's Estimate for 1983. These provisions are over and above the allocations in these years to other bodies providing training and employment services for young persons.
Is the figure of £15 million inclusive or exclusive of the £11 million withdrawn from the agency by Government decision, as announced some time in July of this year?
First of all, £11 million was not withdrawn from the agency. No such decision was announced in July or any other time. I will be dealing with this in more detail on a later question. My reply deals with the amount of money allocated and made available to the agency, so it is exclusive of decisions taken in Barretstown.
Would the moneys to be made available this year have been £26 million had the decision made in July by the Government not been made?
The question asks me the funds available to date to the Youth Employment Agency from the youth employment levy, so my answer is exclusive of any decision taken in Barretstown.
I detect some little effort by the Minister to conceal something from the House, deliberately or otherwise. If this question had been put down in June last regarding the allocation——
The answer would have been exactly the same.
It would have been £15 million?
Yes.
In other words, the Government's decision as reported was a bluff.
The question asks the amount of funds made available to the agency. As of January last £15 million was available to the agency. Any decision later in the year had nothing to do with a total sum available to the agency at any time in their history.
24.
asked the Minister for Labour in relation to the Youth Employment Agency, the total allocation of funds at the beginning of 1983; the amount spent to date; and the projects on which it was spent.
A sum of £15 million was allocated to the Youth Employment Agency for expenditure in 1983 on training and employment of young persons. Of this £15 million, the agency have committed approximately £8.7 million for expenditure on approved projects and their own administration costs in 1983. At 30 September 1983 £2.24 million of this sum had been paid to project sponsors and £488,000 has been expended by the agency on overhead and administration costs. The main schemes and projects are described in the first report and accounts laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas on 5 October 1983.
To get the record straight, the Minister referred to a sum of £480,000 for administration and overheads. Is that right?
£488,000.
Approximately £½ million. Earlier in his reply did the Minister say that another figure he mentioned also covered administration and overheads?
Is that the total expenditure to date?
On overheads.
Is it not a lot of money for the return we got from it?
I would regard the return from the activities of the Youth Employment Agency as being very considerable.
How many projects are under way?
A large number of projects are under way. The details are set out in the first report which was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. If the Deputy has not got a copy I will gladly get one for him.
How many young people are in training as a result of the agency's work and how many are in employment?
Last year some 50,000 young people participated in the schemes funded by the 1 per cent levy.
How many are participating at present?
The average participation is somewhere in the region of 20,000.
25.
asked the Minister for Labour, with regard to the Youth Employment Agency, if he will give full details of the type of office accommodation used by them and its cost.
I have no statutory responsibility in the matter which falls into the category of the day-to-day administration of the Youth Employment Agency.
Is the cost of the accommodation included in the £488,000 to which the Minister referred in an earlier reply?
Yes.
When were these premises occupied and what is the number of staff employed by the agency at present?
I want to make it clear that the articles and memoranda under which the agency operate lay down very clearly the functions of the Minister for Labour. The Minister for Labour has no function whatever in relation to the provision of office accommodation for the agency. That is a matter for them to arrange themselves. The Minister has a statutory involvement in relation to staffing and that is the subject of a question later on the Order Paper.
Have they sorted out their rows?
I am afraid I cannot hear the Deputy.
One is a little——
Has the Deputy a question?
Yes, a number of them. I am telling the Chair the reasons why I have some questions.
That is not necessary.
Has the Minister in his office at present an adviser who was formerly a director of the Youth Employment Agency? Is another former director at present a member of the staff of the agency? How many staff from his Department are on secondment to the agency? How many were there, and how many have stayed on? How many have been recruited from outside the Department?
Question No. 25 asks the Minister for Labour, with regard to the Youth Employment Agency, if he will give full details of the type of office accommodation used by them and its cost. The question of the presence or otherwise of advisers in my office does not seem to arise.
I am trying to find out——
There are later questions about the staffing.
——what kind of money is being spent and what kind of empire is being built. That is what I am trying to establish.
If the Deputy put down a question on those lines, he would be on stronger ground.
The Chair has no idea how strong my ground is. The Minister's ground is not as strong.
26.
asked the Minister for Labour if any health board or local authority applied to the Youth Employment Agency to fund job creation; if so, if they were refused; and the reason for the refusal.
In examining applications for assistance the Youth Employment Agency consider whether the activity in question could more appropriately be performed under an existing programme or by another agency. In addition, the agency ensure that no residual commitments devolve on themselves after the planned termination date of a project. Applications from health boards and local authorities would be considered in the light of the policy I have outlined.
As regards local authorities, substantial amounts of money have been allocated to provide employment of a temporary nature under the, Environmental Works (Youth Employment) Scheme. While a number of authorities would have approached the agency with project submissions, it would be normal agency practice, in accordance with the policy stated to direct the authorities to the Department of the Environment who administers the environment works scheme.
With regard to applications by health boards for funding towards job creation, the agency recently received a direct application from the North Western Health Board in relation to financial support for the permanent staffing of a community nursing unit in Buncrana, County Donegal. Having regard to the policy outlined, this proposal was refused. I might add that, following recent discussdions between the agency and the Department of Health, approximately £0.5 million has been set aside for the latter part of 1983 to cover increased activity in the health area based on existing employment programmes. Programmes have now been agreed and are shortly to commence.
What type of programmes have been agreed? Are the same facilities and the same money available to all the health boards?
The Deputy will recall from his own period in the Department of Labour that the Department of Health expressed an interest in getting a temporary employment scheme off the ground. The Department of Health will not have their own scheme, but existing schemes will be utilised when extra funds are being made available specifically for the health area and for all the health boards.
In view of the Minister's reply about the health boards, will the jobs being created or provided for in the health area be permanent or temporary? Have the Youth Employment Agency created any permanent jobs since their establishment?
The agency have created some 500 permanent jobs. We are talking about the extension of existing temporary employment schemes and temporary training schemes of one nature or another, and targeting them directly at the health area.
Is it not true to say that basically the agency are performing a training function and AnCO are already in existence to do that job?
No. The Youth Employment Agency have a co-ordinated role in relation to all the existing temporary employment and training schemes. In addition, they have a job creation role and are carving a very distinctive niche for themselves in that area through the community and youth enterprise programme and a number of other programmes launched by us in the past couple of months.
I consider 500 jobs is a very poor effort.
Arising from the Minister's last reply, if the agency have a co-ordinating role in job creation or job training for young people, why did the Government find it necessary to set up a consultancy so soon after the agency were established?
No consultancy has been established. The task force of employment Ministers gave consideration to the question of consultants but the remit of those consultants was intended to be far wider than the area covered by the Youth Employment Agency in that it would have regard to the total area of employment and training, including the educational area.
The remaining questions will appear on next Wednesday's Order Paper.
I gave notice this morning that I wished to raise on the Adjournment this evening the question of the suspension of the export refunds on the macro-fisheries. It is now 3.30 p.m. and I have not yet been given any indication whether I can raise the issue this afternoon.
The question was in order but another question was selected. Only one question can be taken.
I appreciate that but——
When the Deputy hears the question which has been allowed, he will understand why it was selected.
I want to make the point that this is a very serious issue.
The Deputy made that point this morning and it is not in order to make it now.
This is a very serious situation and the Taoiseach is not even familiar with what is taking place.
The Deputy is infringing on time allocated for a debate on the current economic situation.