To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning, in light of budgetary constraints within his Department, which areas of his Department’s work, previously funded through the block grant, will he consider making applications under the European Social Fund to resource.

The Strategic Aim of the NI ESF Programme 2014-2020 is to combat poverty and enhance social inclusion by reducing economic inactivity and to increase the skills base of those currently in work and future potential participants in the workforce.

The Programme will fund activity to enhance and extend employment opportunities, in particular, for those groups at a disadvantage in the labour market, such as lone parents, and other groups who are unemployed, including long term unemployed, or economically inactive. Almost 20% of funding has been allocated for the priority supporting unemployed and inactive people.

A quarter of the programme is ring fenced for projects supporting people with a disability, reflecting the importance DEL attaches to supporting this sector. Almost 20% has been ring fenced to support young people not in employment, education or training.

The total value of the new ESF Programme will be €513.4m – over 20% more than the initial allocation to the previous programme. This amount is made up of €205.4m (40%) from the European Union, which requires 60% match funding of €308m.

ESF funding will be awarded on a competitive basis. Applications will be objectively assessed by expert panels and any application that meets the required threshold will be considered for funding. As part of the call for applications, comprehensive guidance notes are available for all potential applicants.

I would fully expect significant numbers of successful bids to come forward from the voluntary and community sector, as has been the case in previous ESF programmes. Statutory organisations will also be required to submit applications as part of the same process. The ESF funding can be released to any organisation which can raise the necessary match funding.

If the current draft budget stands without amendment, my Department will have difficulty in making available match funding for successful projects at the level it has been able to do in the past (typically 25% of the required 60% match funding for applicants, who have been required to find the remaining 35% from public sources).

I will also no longer have in my budget the £35m additional funding the Executive made available in 2012 to deliver the Pathways to Success strategy and other initiatives in response to the economic situation at that time.

With regard to areas of my Department’s work that previously were mainstreamed, covered through block grant, that we could consider funding under the European Social Fund, areas such as the Local Employment Intermediary Service (LEMIS), the Learner Access and Engagement Programme, the Collaboration and Innovation Fund (CIF) and the Community Family Support Programme are in large part already delivered by voluntary and community sector organisations and we are seeking to rationalise the range of funding streams through which we support the sector.

In the current financial context, it is also important that we minimise duplication between programmes funded by my Department, and that is why we are seeking to focus the ESF programme on level 1 provision and other support required by learners with barriers to employability, in which voluntary and community providers have particular expertise. At the same time, FE colleges and other Departmental programmes will have to reduce their level 1 provision and concentrate on higher level courses.

To this end, the six further education colleges are currently working on a combined application for ESF funding for a project at Level 1 and below.