The Committee is aware of the serious financial situation in Lisburn College of Further Education and agrees that every effort should be made to ensure that delivery to students is not affected by management difficulties. As discussed with officials, members were concerned at the equity issues both within Lisburn College and elsewhere. Students attending the College in the future may well be affected as the College attempts to repay the advance. There is also a wider equity issue in the opportunity cost to other colleges which have effectively managed their finances and the Committee would again raise the issue of areas within Northern Ireland, such as East Antrim, which do not have an effective further education provision, whilst additional amounts of public money are allocated to other areas.

Members were made aware of Lisburn College's efforts to appoint an appropriately qualified accountant. Nevertheless, it is considered unacceptable that the current monitoring system within the Department failed to detect this at an earlier stage and that the situation in Lisburn has been allowed to develop since the College's accounts were last audited. Officials explained that the establishment of a professional accounting resource within each College is ongoing and should include adequate and effective contingency arrangements. The centralisation of such a resource for the further education sector as a whole, as recommended in the Committee's recent Inquiry Report, should also be immediately considered.

Concerns regarding the management information system for the colleges arose during the recent Inquiry and are still ongoing. The Committee was informed by senior officials at an evidence session on 21 June 2001 that 'we have established the requirements of... a management information system for the further education sector and a business case is about to go to the Department for Finance and Personnel.' The Committee therefore request an update on progress in this area.

The Committee requested details of recovery action plans in place for further education colleges on 5 December 2001 and has yet to receive a reply. Members would be grateful if this information could be forwarded as a matter of priority.

The Committee has most concerns at the amount surrendered from the New Deal budget of £43m. Almost £17m has been surrendered in the year to date, with the Department seeking end of year flexibility to carry over a further unspent £4m to the next financial year. Almost half of the annual budget in this area will be unspent, with another monitoring round still to come. This flies in the face of the social inclusion agenda and is in stark contrast to the targets in this year's Business Plan to 'enhance the New Deal programme and increase its effectiveness.' Whilst the Committee realises that the Programme is to some extent demand led, we wish to be kept regularly updated on the Department's actions to address the backlog of identified potential participants waiting to be placed on the Programme (approximately 7,000 at the end of November 2001). Addressing this backlog will obviously create pressures in DEL's budget for 2002/03, which the Department will need to deal with. The Committee would also urge rapid progress on filling the staff vacancies in the JobCentres and are aware that some 20% of posts dealing with the New Deal Programme are vacant. Again, we wish to be kept fully briefed on this matter.

Whilst the information received by the Committee on absenteeism rates amongst Jobcentre staff is somewhat difficult to interpret, the Committee understands that this is in the region of 8.9% of man-days across the grades. The Committee raised concerns at the Department's absentee rate at the end of the last Assembly session and request an update on any action taken to address this, together with information on the current rate.

Within the New Deal programme, members were disappointed that £1.9m from a £2m budget had been returned in relation to the childcare subsidy as part of the New Deal for Lone Parents scheme. At the briefing session, officials explained DEL's role as a managing agent for the Department for Social Development in relation to the scheme. However, the fact that £100,000 seems to have been spent for an uptake of only one claim throughout Northern Ireland, suggests that this needs to be urgently addressed by both Departments on a cross-cutting basis.

Regarding the bid for £632,000 for consultancy costs, officials have agreed to forward details of all consultancy payments made by DEL in the current year to date. The areas of work that the consultants have been engaged in should be clearly identified. In addition, an update on progress on the Springvale campus towards the target date of September 2004 would be appreciated.

The Committee recognises the achievements of the Individual Learning Account scheme in encouraging lifelong learning, and supports the additional bid of £1.5m. However the Committee seeks assurance from the Department that the perceived difficulties regarding the scheme have been addressed, and early information if the scheme is to be relaunched.

The Committee appreciates that the Management Development Programme is currently under review and the difficulties involved in dealing with participants who are already in employment. Members have been assured that the Programme will be back on track in the future and would appreciate being kept informed of progress. Nevertheless, the surrender of £750,000 on the programme casts some doubt on the accuracy of the original estimate.

Regarding the surrender of almost £11.5m from the Jobskills budget, the Committee seeks a more detailed explanation. Whilst it is appreciated that performance payments to providers have slowed up, as an NVQ takes longer to complete, members are concerned that the stipulated Key Skills requirements are affecting achievement. Members are aware that training providers have highlighted this to the Department in the past and wish to re-emphasise the financial implications for these providers. If action had been taken sooner, could some of the easement not have been retained within the Jobskills programme, for the benefit of all?

The Committee would also like further detail on why an unsuccessful bid of £0.3m for Departmental Running Costs was made in June 2001, only for the Department to surrender £750,000 in this area by December 2001.

Overall, the Committee is disappointed that the majority of the bids are to fund remedial action and there is little of a developmental nature within them. The amount of money surrendered casts doubt on the effectiveness of the Department's forecasting models. Finally, members would appreciate earlier information regarding the Department's bids for monitoring rounds and would request information on the February 2002 monitoring round as soon as possible

Mr Mervyn Carrick, MLA
Deputy Chairman