National Training Fund

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2017

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

Questions (170)

Thomas Byrne

Question:

170. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 528 of 20 June 2017, if under the National Training Fund Act 2000, the annual surplus not the accumulated surplus which was €54 million in 2016, can be used to fund education undertaken at higher education institutions. [30912/17]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

While the NTF does not form part of the Vote of my Department, the allocation for each scheme is determined as part of the annual Estimates process. The NTF is included as an annex to the published Estimates of my Department and such funding is included in the overall expenditure ceiling for the Department since 2011. This means that overall expenditure from the Fund cannot be increased, even where receipts increase, without a corresponding drop in voted expenditure.

The surplus in the NTF in 2016 cannot be used to fund education undertaken at higher education institutions without my Department's overall exchequer funding being reduced by a similar amount.