Mary O'Rourke
Question:31 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the amount of the £6 million allocated in the 1995 budget for a local employment service that has actually been spent. [14485/95]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Employment Service.
The Government approved an allocation of £6 million for establishing a local employment service of which £5 million was provided in respect of the additional costs of intensive guidance, counselling and placement service and other associated overhead costs of delivering service which cannot be met from within existing resources and £1 million was provided for a local training and education fund.
That funding will be disbursed only on foot of plans agreed and submitted by local management committees. The Government decision was taken on foot of the interim report of the Task Force on Long-Term Unemployment.
The task force recommended that the 12 established area based partnerships should be in a position to submit their plans by the end of June of this year. This was an ambitious target and all concerned worked hard to achieve it. In the event, five plans were received in August and a further two in September. The remaining plans are expected in the coming weeks.
Last week I gave the go-ahead for the local employment service to commence operations in Tallaght and Limerick. I was impressed by the quality of these two plans, but it took time — well spent time — to develop this quality. The local employment service is designed to provide an integrated service to meet the needs of the long-term unemployed. The service will provide the gateway or access point to the full range of options which should be available to enable an unemployed person move from the world of unemployment to the world of work.
In this context, it must be able to provide a planned programme for progression for the unemployed person, including guidance and counselling and an active employment placement service. As part of the programme it must be possible for a long-term unemployed person to access appropriate placements on education, training or work experience programmes.
The local employment service must be specifically tailored to the needs of its clients — the long term unemployed of its area. The local response has meant the active involvement of numerous organisations to co-ordinate and develop their plans. Representatives of FÁS, social welfare, the vocational education committee, the national rehabilitation board, the local partnership, local business representatives, local youth services, centres for the unemployed, unemployed persons and other local groups made valuable contributions to the plans.
Before approval is granted. I wish to ensure that the plans are focused with priority given to the target group, the long-term unemployed. As the Deputy is aware, the temptation may be to focus on too wide a target group. I am satisfied that the time and effort taken to develop plans by the partnerships, with the active assistance of my Department, will result in meaningful and effective local responses to the long-term unemployed. I expect that the local employment service will draw down significant amounts of the moneys earmarked for its use.
While no funds have been disbursed to date, I expect that the partnerships in Tallaght and Limerick will now move quickly to draw down the necessary funds to establish the local employment service in their areas. Similarly, funds will be disbursed to the other areas once their plans have been received and approved in the near future.
I emphasise that the local employment service is a new initiative. It must be established on a proper basis so that it adds value and is a good use of taxpayers' moneys to tackle long-term unemployment.
The Minister answered my question in the second last paragraph of his reply when he stated that no moneys have yet been drawn down out of the £6 million granted to him by the Minister for Finance in the budget last February. Deputy McDowell will recall that at the Estimates meeting we asked if the Minister would spend this money and I referred to him as a "thrifty lad". However, he is extremely timid and parsimonious in that, ten months later, he has not spent one penny of that £6 million while, unfortunately, the number of long term unemployed continues to increase. I understand the need for proper plans but I do not understand why the Minister, with £6 million in his kitty, did not see fit to urge that the new measures be submitted and implemented. In the words of the Minister of State, is it acceptable to the Minister that the number of long-term unemployed has increased while £6 million lay idle?
It is not acceptable that the number of long-term unemployed has increased and we will continue to devote a great deal of attention to this area. As the Deputy acknowledged, the local employment service must be properly planned. It is pointless proceeding without proper local consultation, without targeting the groups in need of assistance or without interventions designed to meet the needs of the areas in question. That requires consultation and invigilation of the proposals by the Department to ensure proper focus on what we wish to achieve. I am satisfied that proper plans are in place to commence operations in two areas and we will be in a position shortly to approve additional plans. The plans being submitted are of sufficient quality to convince us that the local employment scheme will add value and be a permanent feature that will ensure greater value for future programmes. The unemployed will not be thrown, like cherries into a cake, from one programme to another but will be helped in a targeted manner.
I agree with Deputy O'Rourke's remarks. At the Estimates meeting before the summer we were led to believe the delays would be overcome shortly. If the programme was carefully planned and that planning accounted for the delay, was it not apparent at budget time that most of the money would not be required this year? As the Minister specified two projects he hopes to fund in the near future, will he confirm how much money each of those projects will receive from the £6 million? Will he also indicate, in respect of the balance of the projects under consideration, if it is the case that moneys will not be paid out in 1995?
The position is not as the Deputy suggests. I have approved plans on which significant sums of money will be spent — hundreds of thousands of pounds in each case — and I hope to be in a position to approve additional plans in the near future. A total of 14 local employment schemes will be in operation and drawing down funds in the next month to six weeks. However, they will draw down funds only on the basis that they represent good value for taxpayers' money. It is pointless setting up schemes that would not stand up to scrutiny as in the case of Leader 1, under which schemes that did not meet the required standards were implemented rapidly.
While I sympathise with the Minister's view that taxpayers' money should not be wasted, what Members on the Opposition benches find hard to stomach is that at budget time we were told £6 million would be spent on this programme to tackle unemployment for which the Government received all the kudos, but now we discover in October that not one single halfpenny has been spent and, from what the Minister has said, although he has been vague and evasive in his replies, it looks as if less than £1 million in toto will be spent in this calendar year. The Minister should at least make a public statement admitting that the figure will be less than £1 million and apologise to all those who believed the spin doctors last February when the budget was presented that the Government was serious about tackling this problem.
The Deputy is incorrect, considerably more than £1 million will be spent on the programme by the end of the year. We will continue to make sure that the essence of the plans on which money will be spent is quality so that the long term unemployed in particular areas will see that this service will genuinely do something worthwhile to improve their chances of re-entering the workplace. The local groups share our view that there should be proper local consultation and that they should put together a plan that is tailored to meet the needs of their own area and will produce genuine benefits. I am satisfied that the approach being taken is both wise and prudent.
There are only ten weeks to Christmas. With the best will in the world I cannot see how the Minister will be able to fruitfully spend £6 million during this period when not one single penny has been spent to date. What will happen to this money? It is apparent that the Minister has not been busy motivating the local groups to submit their plans. Will he be able to roll over this money in 1996?
The discussions on the 1996 Estimates are ongoing. I am determined to make sure that provision is made for the continued development of the local employment service.
Will the money be rolled over?
I have no wish to see X million pounds spent by a certain date. I wish to see a quality programme introduced. Significant sums of money will be spent in a worthwhile fashion under this programme before the end of the year and it will be developed and strengthened in the years ahead. It will be an important measure in targeting assistance at the long term unemployed in particular areas.
The term "roll over" is used in the Budget Statement. Will this money be rolled over to 1996 and added to?
It is my understanding that the amounts available each year are included in the Estimates. The Estimates will determine how much will be available in 1996. No provision has been made in the system of Government accounting for rolling over sums in that way, although this may be the system used in many private businesses.
When I was in the Department of Education, part of the allocation for primary school buildings remained unspent for two years running and the then Minister for Finance, Ray MacSharry, arranged for the introduction of a financial roll over mechanism to allow funds to be rolled over from one year to the next. I notice in the newspapers that the Minister has been one of the few good boys and girls with regard to the Estimates. Will he surrender this money?
The Government is fully committed to the development of the local employment service and will make provision for this in the 1996 Estimates. I am not aware of the roll over mechanism which the Deputy availed of in respect of capital spending on primary schools, but the Government is determined to make sure that the programme succeeds and will make the necessary funds available.
Blather.
The Minister has told us in flowery terms what the Government is determined to do and he is determined to fight for, but will he give us a categoric assurance that these moneys will not be lost in the Estimates for next year?
I plan to secure extra funding for the development of this service on a greater scale in 1996. That is what the Government is determined to do.