Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this issue and having this debate. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, sends her apologies. She would like to have engaged with the Deputy directly but could not. She engaged with the committee on the subject yesterday. If Deputy McAuliffe has not received the message yet, the Minister has agreed to meet with him and a delegation to tease through the concerns about this issue and hopefully allay the Deputy's fears. I think she will be able to do that because some of the fears expressed by Deputy McAuliffe and others here are well allayed in my view from my time working in the Department of Social Protection. I am mainly in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment but I also have a leg in the Department of Social Protection and work with it on many issues related to labour activation, with people who are looking for jobs, and directly with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. I am quite confident, from engaging with it, that it has the needs of individuals in mind here. I will return to the formal statement shortly. This model is mainly based on progression, personal development and engagement. I assure that Deputy that it is not just about going in and out. I urge anybody concerned to get involved in the tendering process when it comes their way and to go to the workshops. They will then realise that it is about progression and engagement, which is what the main part of this will be about.

I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss matters surrounding the provision of employment services in the State. The Department of Social Protection published a request for tender on 26 May for the procurement of regional employment services in parts of the State where there is currently no employment service. This is a welcome expansion of employment services, announced last year in the July stimulus package. This expansion of services involves tendering for four lots across seven counties in the north west and midlands. Those lots are Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim, Longford and Westmeath, and Laois and Offaly.

The existing contracts of the Department of Social Protection's main contracted employment services providers, including local employment services, job clubs, and JobPath, all expire at the end of this year. Not replacing these contracts would entail a significant reduction in public employment service capacity. Instead, the Department is now increasing its capacity, through the expansion of a new regional employment service model throughout the State. Parties interested in the current tendering process now have until 7 July to prepare tenders. While the procurement is competitive, in line with legal requirements, there are numerous local and community bodies in those counties already supplying similar services on behalf of their communities. They will be well positioned to tender for these new lots and have been fully engaged at various meetings and workshops with the Department over the last couple of years as we prepared for these changes.

The key requirement in the request for tenders is quality of service. That is key, so we can ensure, and will be happy to ensure, that those who are long-term unemployed will receive a high quality employment service. This procurement will ensure the State extends the range of employment services it provides to seven counties, which is a welcome and timely development because those counties did not have the service. I know there is some concern among current service providers as the State moves to an open competitive procurement process and moves on from the "cost met" funding approach of current local employment services and job clubs.

The current contracts operate on an annual basis, provide only partial State coverage and have largely gone unchanged in two decades or longer in some cases. In some cases, they are cumbersome and administratively burdensome for the service providers and the Department and are not procured in a way that is in accordance with national and EU procurement rules. The new funding approach, with payments tied to the actual number of clients supported and weighted towards the client’s engagement and progression with the service, which is key, will be multi-annual, enabling providers to plan how best to meet the needs of their clients across different calendar years.

Phase 2 of the procurement process, which will occur later this year, will see the Department of Social Protection issue requests for tenders to provide employment services nationally. A series of separate requests for tenders will issue to complete the roll-out of the new regional employment service State-wide. It is expected that existing local community providers will be well placed to submit quality tenders for these new regional employment services. The Department recognises that quality that can be found locally. The Department of Social Protection will consider any lessons from the phase 1 procurement process and apply them in the design of the multiple requests for tenders that will be published later this year under phase 2. They review their ongoing work over the last seven or eight years too, with all the changes through the Intreo offices and the expansion of services here. All of that feeds into the changes that are coming through the system this year and next year.

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