The 2018 allocation for the Department of Education and Skills is €10.1 billion. The Vote has a gross funding allocation for 2018 of €9,673 million. This is made up of €8,928 million in current and €745 million in capital. The National Training Fund (NTF) is also included in the Department's expenditure ceiling, with an allocation of €415.5 million (all current).
At the end of June 2018, based on the spending profiles set out at the beginning of the year the Department was €12 million below profile (0.3%). This is due to €28 million (0.6%) expenditure ahead of profile on the current side and €40m (11.1%) expenditure behind profile on the capital side.
On the current side, expenditure is ahead of profile primarily due to superannuation costs exceeding the profiled funding allocation. The spend behind profile on the capital side is primarily due to delays in the delivery of some large scale schools capital projects and a VAT payment for a PPP project originally profiled for earlier in the year which will now be paid at a later stage in the year. It is anticipated that the Department’s capital allocation will be expended in full by the end of the year.
NTF expenditure is currently €4 million ahead of profile, but this is primarily due to timing issues.