Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 July 2012
380 Deputy Willie O’Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for community employment schemes; when her Department’s reports will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36416/12]
View answerTotal expenditure on the CE programme in 2012 will be some €340 million. The financial review of CE Schemes got underway a couple of months ago and has now been completed. The local Departmental offices have been contacting schemes to advise them of their revised individual material and training allocations.
Under the revised arrangements, schemes will no longer be given universal amounts of financial support but will instead be provided with a specific level of support aimed at meeting the particular costs of CE Schemes, having regard to the overall level of funding available for CE nationally. To date, significant savings have already been made to the overheads of CE projects in terms of annual insurance costs and audit fees.
There is a mechanism for schemes to appeal their allocation of materials and training for their CE scheme. In addition to the training allocation for schemes, CE participants may also access a number of Springboard, VEC and FÁS courses free of charge.
The number of places available on CE has remained constant at 23,300 including supervisors However, the materials and training CE Budget has been increased by €9.5m from the original budget of approximately €11.0m following budget transfer from savings identified elsewhere in the DSP budget. The new CE materials and training budget is thus €20.5m.
Details of the CE Financial review are due to be made available in the coming weeks following the outcome of the appeals process.
In addition, there is a separate Labour Market Activation Schemes policy review nearing completion. This review will inform the Department's strategic approach in relation to labour market activation including the CE programme into the future.
This review will be of interest and importance to all the stakeholders involved and, accordingly, the Minister for Social Protection will ensure that stakeholders will be able to respond to its findings ahead of a consultation she will hold with stakeholders in the autumn.
The Department is committed to supporting the CE Programme and the valuable contribution it is making to the provision of services to individuals and communities across Ireland.
