Vol. 415 No. 1
243 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline the reason for (1) the 22 per cent increase in expenditure under Vote 33 subhead P.4 and (2) the 44 per cent reduction in expenditure under Vote 33 subhead P.3, in the Estimates for the Public Services 1992.
The increase in the allocation for subhead P4 — Grant for the social employment scheme — of my Department's Vote is being provided because the scheme will not, in 1992, be eligible for European Social Fund assistance, which amounted to approximately £12 million in 1991. The scheme is therefore being funded in 1992 totally by the Exchequer. There are of course compensating savings on the Social Welfare Vote as all persons on the scheme come from the live register.
The bulk of the reduction in the allocation for subhead P3 — FÁS Capital Expenditure (Grant-in-aid) is in accordance with the expenditure schedule which had been projected for the FAS Capital Investment Programme for the years 1990-93 under the Structural Funds Training Infrastructure Programme. That programme envisaged that FÁS capital expenditure would peak in 1991 and decrease for the remaining two years of the programme. The 1992 allocation is in line with the scheduled reduction for 1992 and current budgetary constraints.
