I propose to take Questions Nos. 596 and 597 together. In accordance with the regulations governing the operation of the European Social Fund in the years in question, it was necessary for my Department to submit its application for aid by September of the year preceding the commencement of the programme. Accordingly, the estimated unit costs underlying the application were based on historical data, without access to financial data for the year immediately preceding. It will be recalled that the period in question was one of considerable fluctuation in the cost inputs in the education system due to high inflation and escalating pay costs. The significant variations discovered in the course of the audit of the established costs demonstrate the difficulty in anticipating the likely unit costs two years in advance.
Returns of expenditure by VECs have to be based on procedures of general application. In so far as there are variations these may relate to either differing interpretations of the procedures and/or to different levels of fixed costs. My Department is most concerned about the variations in unit costs and these variations have been, inter alia, the subject of detailed discussion with the staff of the VECs on an annual basis. A consultative council established by order of the Minister for Education under section 104 of the Vocational Education Act, 1930, to examine the procedures for the allocation and control of expenditure of vocational education committees is considering the establishment of a comprehensively analysed financial information system for vocational education committees.
