Fás has no marketing plan, says watchdog

TRAINING AGENCY Fás has no marketing and communications strategy despite having the highest advertising spend “by far” of the non-commercial semi-state organisations, a highly critical report by the Comptroller Auditor General, John Buckley, has concluded.

The report on Fás advertising and promotional spending in 2002-2008, when a total of €48 million was spent, found a “substantial and prolonged breakdown in budgetary control in the area of promotional expenditure . . . with expenditure exceeding budgets by 38 per cent”.

“This lack of control was particularly evident in the area of general advertising where expenditure exceeded budgets by 66 per cent over the seven-year period.

“Much of the advertising was ineffective in increasing an awareness of the services provided by Fás,” the report concluded.

The CAG examined a number of specific expenditures and found instances with a total value of €622,000 “for which there was no evidence of goods or services having been provided”.

The report states the Garda has been contacted in relation to some expenditures. It is understood that, in one instance, charges may be brought shortly.

As well as “nugatory” (worthless) expenditure, the report also found there was “considerable non-effective expenditure, including over €600,000 spent on producing TV advertisements that were not broadcast, and payment of €9,200 for a car that was not delivered”.

The bulk of the expenditure scrutinised was by the agency’s corporate affairs division. However, the report is critical of the organisation overall.

“In the area of advertising, there needs to be a move from passive monitoring to active budget management. While the executive board approved budgets and received regular monthly reports about financial performance, this did not lead to effective budgetary control over advertising and promotional expenditure.

“Because overspends on advertising were compensated by underspends in other areas, sufficient attention was not given to individual variances.”

The CAG looked at the Fás decision to move its annual Opportunities jobs fair from the RDS to Croke Park in 2004. The event was run by Fás in association with Independent Newspapers and with the support of the Institute of Guidance Councillors (IGC).

The board was told in 2003 by former director general Rody Molloy that the event was being moved to Croke Park because the RDS was unsuitable in some regards. The report found that following Opportunities 2004, the IGC stated that Croke Park was “totally inappropriate”, and that members had contacted them to say they would not return to Croke Park, and nor would they encourage their students to do so.

Mr Molloy told the board in July 2004 that difficulties with Croke Park were being addressed, and the event continued to be held there. He told them the RDS was not available on the dates required in 2005, which were January 14th to January 17th.

“In October 2008, the IGC wrote to Fás stating that their members were concerned that little attention had been paid in the past to their serious reservations about Croke Park as a venue for Opportunities.”

The report is critical of the size of the “floats” given to four representatives in the US who assisted with visits there by students and staff members associated with the Science Challenge programme. As at December 2007, the representatives had €210,000, the report says. Expenses incurred by Fás staff in the US will feature in an upcoming CAG report, as will the cost of flights for staff to and from the US.