Mr. John McKeon:

We would not support, or want to see, firms abusing JobBridge. We take it seriously. We have carried out 8,000 inspections and have blacklisted 44 firms we believed were not honouring or respecting the terms and conditions of the scheme. It is important to remember where JobBridge came from five years ago. At that time there were many criticisms of the Department and many calls to address the situation in which someone who was unemployed and was offered work experience could not take up that offer without losing entitlement to jobseeker’s payment. Even when there was a work placement programme, which had a limited range, if those people took up a place on that scheme they received no contribution towards the cost of going to work. The purpose of JobBridge was to remove the possibility that someone who was unemployed and received a legitimate work experience opportunity was unable to take it up. It paid a little more in order that they could cover the expense of going to work. It has been very successful. Feedback through our research from our case officers, interns and employers is overwhelmingly positive, albeit some cases are highlighted. It is important when talking about something like a sandwich assistant, and I am not commenting on that in particular, or a cleaner-----