Results 161-180 of 241 for jobpath speaker:Leo Varadkar

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (1 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...than having a separate scheme, but a definite decision on that has not yet been made. On the penalties, I reiterate that the only body that can impose penalty rates on anyone is the Department of Social Protection. JobPath, Seetec, Turas Nua, local employment services and any of the rest of them cannot impose penalty rates. That can only be done by the Department deciding officer....

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (1 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...the answer to her at the end of this session. The rising cost indicates that the number of successful applicants has increased. To date, 145 complaints have been made to the Department about JobPath. That is out of 60,000 referrals. It is important to point out that Seetec and Turas Nua Limited, the JobPath providers, are paid by results. They only get paid if a person gets a job...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (1 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...In terms of the Estimate, subhead A2 refers to agency services and there is a €14 million underspend. As much as €12 million of the €14 million accounts for money that we did not pay for JobPath because we must verify the results before we get them. A customer survey is now under way but I have no updates other than what I said last week. I ask members to bear in...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (1 Dec 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...open to receiving submissions and suggestions from individuals or committee members. I ask everyone to bear in mind a valid point made by Deputy Brady to the effect that people can get locked into JobPath for 12 months. I advise that people can get locked into a CE scheme for three, six or ten years. I want to relax the rules in a way that will give people who do not currently have the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobs Initiative (30 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Two companies, Seetec and Turas Nua, have been contracted to deliver the service. These companies have established over 80 service locations around the country and employ...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (29 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department provides a range of activation supports catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include the JobPath service and employment programmes such as the Community Employment (CE) scheme. The JobPath service is provided for jobseekers only, whereas CE schemes provide part time temporary work in communities for people in...

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...hours and, obviously, that should not be a problem for teacher to do his or her engagement at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. or 5.30 p.m. as the case may be. I am not sure how many teachers have been referred to JobPath. I will check that and if it is a significant number I will certainly give consideration to the Deputy's suggestion that some protocol be arranged with respect to teachers and their unions.

Other Questions: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...taking up employment in occupations or sectors outside of their preferred field of work.  This applies to people from all backgrounds, trades and professions. All the jobseekers referred to JobPath have been registered as unemployed and have had a live claim for a period of at least 12 months. On referral to a JobPath service provider they are assigned a personal employment...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Only people who are long-term in receipt of a jobseeker's payment are referred to JobPath. Accordingly, someone who has been refused access to a jobseeker's payment by definition cannot be referred to JobPath. In order to qualify for a jobseeker's payment, a person must meet certain conditions, including that they are unemployed and are available for, capable of and genuinely seeking...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...just take 30 seconds because I am about to give the Deputy the answer. I am sorry I did not give the answer in the first part. To date 60,000 jobseekers on the live register have engaged with JobPath. Of these, 499 are on a reduced rate, of whom only 96 are under 25 years of age. Again these figures are under 1% of the people engaged with JobPath. Given these relatively low levels of...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Jobseeker's Allowance (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...depending on the person's length of contributions. Only jobseeker's allowance can be reduced. The penalty rates are being used more frequently than they were in the past. That is not related to JobPath. They are being used more frequently in general by Intreo, LES and JobPath. The Deputy should bear in mind that only Department deciding officers can apply reduced rate. It cannot be...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: JobPath is a relatively new approach whereby the Department has procured additional resources under contract to enable us to provide high-quality case managed employment support services for people who are long-term unemployed. JobPath supplements the internal case management capacity of the Department's Intreo service and the local employment service. In the past year this additional...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...a further complaint to my Department. That is the number of 145 to which I referred. It is possible that many of those who have contacted the Deputy have not made a complaint to the Department or JobPath, but they can do so, if they wish. If they are not happy with how things go, they can also complain to the Ombudsman. The independent customer satisfaction survey is under way and...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I am unsure what the Deputy means by "retaliation". If people are concerned that their payments will be reduced, that cannot be done. Neither of the JobPath providers has the authority to do so. It can only be done by my officials. Sometimes people who attend social welfare offices and Intreo centres have complaints. This may be down to personal interactions, for example, how they have...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 102 together. Some 60,000 jobseekers have engaged with JobPath since the service commenced in July 2015 with only 145 complaints recorded. This is 0.2% of the total. The majority of the complaints were about people’s initial reluctance to engage with the service or in respect of individual customer experience. All complaints have been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Administration (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These include the JobPath service and programmes such as Community Employment (CE). CE schemes provide part-time temporary work in their local communities, as a stepping-stone back to employment, for people in receipt of a range...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (22 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: As the Deputy will be aware, JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Some 30,000 jobseekers have started their JobPath engagement with Seetec. The service was rolled out on a phased basis from mid-2015 and the first groups of participants...

Questions on Proposed Legislation (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...xfa;s are supposed to move on to employment. We do not want people to spend their lives on schemes. We want them in employment. That is why it is limited to one year. Second, it is important not to confuse JobPath with an employment scheme like CE, Tús or Gateway. JobPath operates by finding people jobs. The programme operators spend a year working with people and finding...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Activation Measures (17 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together. JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them tackle barriers to employment and to assist them in finding full-time...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (15 Nov 2016)

Leo Varadkar: ...’s activation service and this obligation applies irrespective of whether the service is provided by the Department’s own case officers or those employed by the Local Employment Service or by JobPath. In order to qualify for a jobseeker payment, a person must meet certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for, capable of and genuinely seeking...