Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Moran for raising this issue. The Department of Social Protection has estimated expenditure of more than ¤960 million on employment supports in 2012. This substantial expenditure, which is against a backdrop of significant fiscal consolidation, underlines the Government's commitment to enhancing support for activation and assisting people return to employment. As outlined in Pathways to Work, the Department will offer job placements, work experience, training and education initiatives to 85,650 people in 2012.

Included in the supports available is the back to education allowance, BTEA, scheme which is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third level education. A person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full-time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others. The BTEA scheme covers a large range of full-time courses of education in approved colleges spanning basic foundation courses to third level courses across all disciplines.

As the Senator outlined, the Department received an application for the back to education allowance from the person in question. The application was refused on the grounds that the course did not lead to a higher qualification on the national framework of qualifications than that already held. The person concerned was notified in writing of the reason that she did not so qualify. The BTEA guidelines are in the main in line with the mechanisms in place for student support-type schemes administered by the Department of Education and Skills. Progression in education is a condition which is not unique to BTEA, indeed State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one. That is necessary to ensure displacement does not occur, in that courses could be offered to students who are not progressing at the cost of students progressing from a lower education level.

Resources allocated and numbers supported via BTEA have increased steadily in recent years. It is estimated that more than ¤200 million will be spent on BTEA in 2012, compared with the position in 2008, for example, when just over ¤77 million was spent on the scheme. Some 25,700 participants were supported in the 2011-12 academic year which represents a significant 120% increase compared to the 2008-09 academic year. It is expected that numbers availing of the scheme for the current academic year will be similar to last year.

If a person wishes to pursue a part-time education course they may be able to do so while retaining their jobseeker's payment under the part-time education option, PTEO, of the back to education programme. An example of courses that may be pursued under the PTEO are the 6,000 part-time higher education places for unemployed people made available under the Springboard initiative announced earlier this year by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. In addition, the Department also supports the provision of a wide variety of training through networks of private sector companies, in a range of sectors and regions, supported by Skillnets Limited via the PTEO.

It should also be noted that FÁS, as the national training authority, anticipates the needs of, and responds to, a constantly changing labour market. It strives to do this through the provision of tailored training programmes that suit various needs and access to many training programmes is not determined by a person's welfare status. The Department is currently reviewing a wide range of activation supports available to DSP customers, including BTEA, and it is the intention to canvass the views of stakeholders as part of the implementation process resulting from the review.