Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is touching on a model with regard to the local employment service and outcomes. We do not currently model the service on outcomes, but I think we should. When I refer to outcomes, I do not mean that there should be a target of getting jobs for a certain number of people. I envisage that the wraparound services on offer from our local employment services in the future will be far more holistic about getting people on the road to recovery, as opposed to getting them a job. Outcomes can and should be measured in a variety of ways. That is something we can potentially look at in the very near future. At the moment, we do not really do outcomes with our local employment services or community employment schemes. We do not intend to put people under pressure by giving them outcome targets. We want to make sure we can see people moving and progressing through a range of services that are on offer. Maybe they will move from education into employment, or from upskilling and confidence-building into education. We want to see a progression over the range of services. I would be very keen to move to an outcome level without putting any fear factor in that.