Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Activation initiatives are designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force. The Government has a comprehensive approach to keeping as many people as possible in work. Protecting existing jobs and supporting the creation of new opportunities is a key priority and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment plays the central role in that regard.

Ensuring access to appropriate education and training initiatives to help jobseekers get back to work is also a major priority. The Government is now providing, through FÁS, a total of 147,000 training and activation places for jobseekers. In addition there were 166,000 places available, including additional provision, on education programmes in 2009, while the number of third level places has also increased dramatically over the past ten years.

While many people who lose their jobs will go on to new employment or take up education or training within three months, others will find themselves unemployed for a longer period and some will need targeted guidance and support in order to access new opportunities. Under the national employment action plan, NEAP, everyone who is approaching three months on the live register is identified by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and referred to FÁS for interview with a view to assisting them enter or re-enter the labour market. In the period from January to November 2009 80,967 people were referred to FÁS under the NEAP, an increase of 24,601, or 44%, over the same period in 2008.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs also provides jobseekers with one-to-one assistance through its facilitator service. Facilitators work closely with FÁS and other agencies at a local level and help jobseekers develop individual progression plans to enhance their skills and ultimately improve their employment chances. During 2009 21,500 people were referred to facilitators. Although the facilitator service is available to all jobseekers, the Government is conscious that people with low levels of education and those who have been unemployed for 12 months or more face particular difficulties in getting back into work. The back to education and back to work initiatives were designed to provide additional targeted supports to such groups. Approximately 20,800 people were in receipt of the back to education allowance on 31 December, 2009. This represents an increase of approximately 79% over the figure for 2008-09 academic year, which was 11,646. Last year we changed the back to work enterprise allowance to provide earlier access to it for those who want to commence a self employment business. We also introduced the short-term enterprise allowance.

A range of initiatives are in place to assist people who have just lost their jobs and to provide more targeted support for those who are more distant from the labour market. While activation programmes have been improved considerably over the past two years, they are being kept under review in light of the current economic circumstances to ensure that they are as effective as possible. New initiatives, such as a statistical profiling model for jobseekers, are also being developed at present to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most.

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