Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 9 Dec 2003

Vol. 576 No. 5

Written Answers. - FÁS Training Programmes.

Joan Burton

Ceist:

95 Ms Burton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason the allocation for FÁS training and integration supports has been reduced by 3% in her Department's Estimate for 2004; the way in which this reduction is to be achieved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29903/03]

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

108 Mr. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason the allocation for FÁS employment programmes has been reduced by 3% in her Department's Estimate for 2004; the way in which this reduction is to be achieved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29904/03]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 108 together.

FÁS training and integration support programmes and employment programmes are funded through a combination of contributions from the Exchequer and the national training fund – NTF. The overall allocation in 2004 for the two activities is nearly €675 million. This compares with an allocation of nearly €664 million in 2003, an increase of around €11 million.

The Exchequer and NTF allocations to FÁS training and integration support programmes for 2003 and 2004 are set out in the following table:

Year	Exchequer €m	NTF €m	Total €m
2003	74.558	222.055	296.613
2004	51.187	256.821	308.008

The combined total for 2004 of over €308 million represents an increase of 3.8% over the 2003 allocation. FÁS, taking into account policy guidelines, will decide on the priorities between schemes and activities from within this allocation.

The Exchequer and NTF contributions to FÁS employment programmes over the two years are shown in the following table:

Year	Exchequer €m	NTF €m	Total €m
2003	366.955	–	366.955
2004	356.549	10	366.549

This shows a combined allocation of €366.549 million in 2004. This is approximately 0.1% less than the 2003 allocation of €366.955 million. The 2004 allocation includes an amount of €351 million that will support up to 25,000 places across three key employment schemes, namely the community employment scheme, job initiative and the social economy programme. FÁS is being given some flexibility in the management of this funding to maximise progression to the labour market while at the same time facilitating the support of community services.

The commitment to fund a continuing pool of up to 25,000 places across the three schemes clarifies the levels of activity to be supported and enables FÁS to give a clear commitment to the support of local community services. In deciding the financial allocation for the schemes for 2004, the Government was informed by the work of the cross-departmental senior officials group. While the total financial envelope for the schemes has been fixed, the views of the standing committee on active labour market programmes and the review of the social economy programme will be taken into account in considering any adjustments in the structure and the terms and conditions of the labour market measures in the future.