Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Oct 1994

Vol. 445 No. 6

Written Answers. - Departmental Technical Assistance.

John Bruton

Question:

217 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the detailed terms and conditions under which his Department received technical assistance amounting to £9.865 million; if he will give details of each project for which it was used; if a copy of the study or studies carried out was supplied to the European Commission; if a copy is available for inspection by members of the public; and, if not, the reason therefor. [153/94]

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

The European Commission technical assistance provision to my Department of £9.865 million, referenced in my written reply to the Deputy on 29 June 1994, is assigned to a number of headings, as outlined as follows.

European Social Fund Programme Evaluation Unit

The European Social Fund Programme Evaluation Unit is funded 100 per cent by the European Commission. The unit was established in January 1992 in partnership between my Department and the European Commission. Its function is to evaluate the effectiveness of all human resource development interventions supported by the European Social Fund and complementary funding provided through the European Regional Development Fund. The unit reports to a management committee representative of my Department, the European Commission and the Department of Education. The work programme for the unit is agreed periodically between my Department, which is the national authority for the European Social Fund, and the European Commission.

By virtue of its reporting structure, all studies carried out by the European Social Fund Programme Evaluation Unit are submitted to the European Commission. A list of evaluations completed to date is at Appendix I. Copies of all reports are also publicly available.

Human Resources Community Initiatives — Euroform, Horizon and NOW

Preparatory Technical Assistance of £3.553 million under this heading has been made available by the European Commission. This funding, which is fully sourced from the European Social Fund, is provided for two particular purposes.

First, allocations were made to selected sponsors of projects to enable them to develop their initial proposals for funding under these three Community initiatives and to ensure that they fully complied with the eligibility and funding criteria set down. A full list of the projects which received such support is given at Appendix II. Not all of the projects submitted were subsequently approved for operational funding under the relevant programme.

Support Structure Technical Assistance is also provided, at a 100 per cent intervention rate, through the European Social Fund over the period. This funding facilitated my Department in retaining expertise to provide full-time support and advice to participating projects on operational aspects and to ensure that they realised the programme objectives established at the outset. An important part of this exercise also is to provide support to project sponsors, many of them in the voluntary/ community sector and having access to European Social Fund moneys for the first time, through assistance with financial management and control procedures.

The support structures involved are: The NOW programme — The Council for the Status of Women; The Euroform Programme — Leargas — The Exchange Bureau, The Horizon Programme for the Disabled — The National Rehabilitation Board for the Disadvantaged — The Work Research Centre.

Technical assistance provision for the purposes outlined above is focused on operational support and, although quarterly reporting on projects and the dissemination of information is an integral part of the role of the support structures, the publication/availability of studies in the sense posed in the Deputy's question is not relevant in this context.

Innovative Actions for Vocational Training and Employment

Sixteen projects are currently receiving funding under this programme through the European Social Fund (ESF). The total ESF budget is £4,236 million and the intervention rate is 75 per cent of project costs. Project details and the individual ESF allocations involved are given at Appendix III.

Support to ensure that the quality, operational and financial requirements are realised has been arranged by my Department and involves an ESF technical assistance budget of £0.155 million.

The support structure for this programme, which discharges an identical role to that described above and related to the Community Initiatives Support Structures, is Leargas — The Exchange Bureau.

ERDF Technical Assistance Received during 1989-1993

Over the period 1989-1993 the Department of Enterprise and Employment Industry-ERDF side received £932,000 in EU funding for technical assistance. This amount is calculated as follows:

	£
External Evaluation of the Industry Operational Programme	217,000
Upgrading of IT equipment and training in the agencies	316,000
Funding of the Industry Evaluation Unit	253,000
Technical Assistance Sub- programme	127,000
Technical Assistance for PRISMA Initiative	40,000
	953,000

External Evaluator: a specific condition of the Industry Operational Programme — OP — under which the assistance from the European Regional Development Fund would be provided, was that the member state, in agreement with the Commission, would contract an outside evaluator to carry out an ongoing evaluation of the operational programme. Deloitte and Touche were engaged as external evaluators and commenced work in 1990. Their first report was completed in December 1991 and submitted to the Industry Monitoring Committee. The European Commission are members of that committee.

Deloitte and Touche were re-engaged as external evaluators in mid-1992 and commenced their evaluation in November 1992. Their second and final report was submitted to the Department in February 1994. The report was supplied to the Commission and will be considered by the Industry Monitoring Committee at its next meeting which is scheduled for late October. Copies of the report are available on request. The total expenditure for the evaluation was £289,000. That expenditure was grant-aided at 75 per cent from the European Regional Development Fund.

IT equipment for Agencies: to facilitate the provision of physical indicators and financial data required under the Industry OP, the IDA, SFADCo and Eolas were provided with financial support to upgrade their data processing facilities. Expenditure of £421,795 was grant-aided at 75 per cent from the CSF technical assistance programme. Total European Regional Development Fund received by the agencies amounted to £316,350.

Funding of the Industry Evaluation Unit: in mid-1992 the European Commission agreed to fully grant-aid the operation of a full-time Evaluation Unit for the Industry OP. The function of the unit is to carry out reviews and analyses of the measures and subprogrammes of the Industry Operational Programme.

The unit reports to a Steering Group made up of officials from the relevant Government Departments, the European Commission and the Social Partners. Copies of all studies carried out are provided to the Commission. The question of publication of studies is to be considered by the Steering Group in the near future.

Technical Assistance Subprogramme: a provision of 0.1 per cent of the European Regional Development Fund support to measures under the Industry Operational Programme was made available for technical assistance purposes in order to strengthen the management, co-ordination and control required for monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Total Government expenditure under this heading for the five years amounted to £170,000. That expenditure was grant-aided from the European Regional Development Fund at 75 per cent, i.e. £127,000. The expenditure incurred was for upgrading the industrial data base in the Department and in ABT; information, publicity and printing relating to the launch of the Operational Programme; the engagement of consultants to report on business information centres in Ireland.

Technical Assistance for PRISMA Initiative: the £40,000 European Regional Development Fund received for technical assistance under the PRISMA Initiative was for: printing of the PRISMA OP; engaging consultants in the selection of proposals process; market research study into calibration requirements in Ireland; advertising and publicity of the OP; engaging consultants to carry out an evaluation of the OP and PRISMA Awards Launch at the completion of the OP.

APPENDIX I

European Social Fund Programme Evaluation Unit

Evaluations Completed

December 1992

Evaluation Report on the Advanced Technical Skills Programme in the Universities.

Evaluation Report on the FÁS Industrial Restructuring Programme.

Evaluation Report on the FÁS Specific Skills Training Programme.

Survey of Employers.

June 1993

Evaluation Report on FÁS Enterprise Measures.

Evaluation Report on the Human Resources Sub-Programme of the Tourism Operational Programme.

Evaluation Report on the Middle Level Technician and Higher Technical and Business Skills Programmes in the Regional Technical Colleges/Dublin Institute of Technology.

Initial Evaluation on Impact Indicators (Placement and Certification).

December 1993

Survey of Employers.

Follow-up Evaluation on the FÁS Specific Skills Training Programme.

Follow-up Evaluation on the FÁS Industrial Restructuring Programme.

Evaluation of Certification Systems.

March 1994

Thematic Evaluation on Training of Trainers.

April 1994

Thematic Evaluation on Women's Training Provision.

Thematic Evaluation on Recording Systems.

Thematic Evaluation on Impact Indicators.

July 1994

Survey of Micro Enterprise.

Evaluation Report on the Vocational Preparation and Training Programme delivered by the Department of Education.

APPENDIX II

List of promoters to whom Preparatory Technical Assistance was paid.

EUROFORM PROJECTS

Promoter	IR£
Received preparatory technical assistance only
Clonaslee Co-operative	4,000
Irish Marine Services	8,000
Open Channel	8,000
Atlantis Business Consultants	8,000
East Clare Community Co- operative	4,000
College of Commerce, Rathmines	4,000
CKC Consultants	4,000
Hibernia University Enterprise Training Partnership	5,600
SMEs Measure
FÁS	54,990
ICTU	8,000
Irish Productivity Centre	8,000
SIPTU	8,000
Tallaght regional technical college	8,000
Templebar Properties	8,000
Kencem Ltd.	8,000
Audio Visual Centre UCD	4,000
Cork regional technical college	4,000
University of Limerick	4,000
Eukon Training Consultants	4,000
Dairygold	4,000
New Technology Measure
Cork regional technical college	8,000
EO Teilifís	8,000
Tallaght regional technical college	1,830
Trinity College Dublin	7,695
National Council of YMCAs	8,000
St. Luke's and St. Anne's Hospital	8,000
National Distance Education Centre, DCU	4,000
Digital Equipment Ireland Ltd.	4,000
New Qualifications Measure
Aer Lingus	8,000
Coillte	8,000
Mountaineering Council of Ireland	8,000
National Youth Federation	8,000
European Institute of Industrial Engineers	7,774
Moate Business College	4,000
UCG	8,000
Our Lady's Hospice	4,000
Tourism Measure
CERT	8,000
Muintearas	8,000
Údarás na Gaeltachta	8,000
Comhchoiste Forbartha	7,984
Dublin College of Catering	8,000
SFADCo	5,000
Rural Development Measure
Teagasc	8,000
Baile Conaill	8,000
IRD Duhallow	4,000
Macra na Feirme	4,000
Environment Measure
Conservation Volunteers Ireland	8,000
Dublin Institute of Technology	8,000
EEE — Ecology Energy Economics	8,000
Conservation Education Trust	4,000
Local Development and Employment Creation Measure
Dublin Institute of Technology	8,000
Irish Trade Union Trust	8,000
Arklow Enterprise Centre	8,000
Macnas Training Ltd.	4,000
Ringsend Community Workshop	4,000
St. Andrew's Resource Centre	4,000
Trinity College Dublin	4,000
Senior College Ballyfermot	4,000
West Cork Education Institute for Rural Development	4,000
National Youth and Local Arts Training (Arts Council, NYCI, UCD)	12,000
Actions to Help the Long-Term Unemployed
National Distance Education Centre DCU	4,000
RTC and Audio Visual Centre UCD	4,000
Alliance for Work Forum	4,000
University of Limerick	4,000
Technical Assistance
Dublin Technology Partnership	8,000