asked the Minister for Labour if, in view of the difficulties being experienced in the implementation of the social employment scheme whereby only £37 is made available for materials to include also the cost of supervision of the work being carried out for every £70 provided for labour costs, he will consider increasing the allocation for the scheme of more money for materials to be purchased for the various projects or alternatively increase the ratio of money allocated under the present arrangements in relation to the purchase of materials, given the fact that the amount available under the employment incentive scheme is only £60 for five days work per week by the employee; and if he will increase the amount payable per employee under the employment incentive scheme and increase the numbers of employees who can be taken on under the terms of the scheme from two per employer, as at present, to ten per employer for the purpose of encouraging employers to take on more people under this scheme.
Written Answers. - Social Employment Scheme.
Mr. Cowen
The social employment scheme provides for the payment of £70 per week to each employee in respect of an average 2½ days work per week. In addition, the sponsors of a project may be entitled to a grant in respect of the costs of full time supervision of a project and in respect of the purchase of materials. The materials and supervision costs for public organisations such as local authorities, health boards, etc. is 53 per cent of the total cost of the wages for a particular project. In the case of voluntary organisations a grant of 28 per cent of wage costs is available, 13 per cent of which is in respect of supervision costs and 15 per cent for materials.
The indications are that in the vast majority of cases the grants for materials are adequate and there is no evidence to suggest that the amounts currently available deter sponsors from participating in the scheme.
I have been particularly pleased with the rate of take-up on the scheme to date. There are now 1,827 projects in operation employing a total of 6,777 persons and I am confident that our target of 10,000 persons in employment will be reached in mid-year. In these circumstances I do not intend to increase the proportionate level of grant for materials or supervision under the social employment scheme in the foreseeable future.
There are major differences between the social employment scheme and the employment incentive scheme. The social employment scheme is a temporary employment scheme while the employment incentive scheme is a marginal wage subsidy scheme.
The premium structure under the employment incentive scheme was revised in April 1984. There are two premia payable to employers under the scheme, a standard premium of £30 per week and another of £60 per week. The latter is payable in respect of eligible persons aged 25 years or upward who have been unemployed for 12 months or more. I have no plans at present to revise the premiums.
In October 1985 the ceiling limit on the number of eligible recruitments per employer per annum was increased from two to four under the scheme. I consider that any further upward revision of the ceiling limit would probably result in unnecessary windfall gains to employers and make the scheme less financially self supporting.