Vol. 483 No. 4
28 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the additional employment services to be provided in 1998 in view of the 13 per cent increase in the Abridged Estimates for employment services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20554/97]
It is assumed that the Deputy is referring to the employment support services which are provided for under subhead G of my Department's Estimates. These services include the back-to-work allowance, the area based enterprise allowance, the second and third level allowance, the students summer jobs scheme together with a number of other initiatives.
The estimated provision in 1998 for these services represents an increase of 15 per cent over the current year. This increase arises mainly on the back-to-work allowance, the area based enterprise allowance and the third level allowance.
The increase in the expected cost of the back-to-work allowance accounts for more than half the overall subhead increase and is due to an increase of 3,000 in the average number of participants in 1998 together with the carry over cost of the 1997 budget improvements. The increases in the area based enterprise allowance and third level allowance are due mainly to increases of 500 and 700 respectively in the expected number of participants in 1998.
