Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 358: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will clarify the period a person must be unemployed to enable them to qualify for the back-to-education allowance; if the period of unemployment will include participation in a FÁS course; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26414/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The back-to-education allowance is a second-chance education opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active workforce. The conditions for entitlement to the third level option of the back-to-education allowance scheme were revised with effect from 1 September 2004. From that date, the qualifying period was increased from six months to 15 months for new applicants intending to commence third level courses of study.

As the Deputy is aware, I reduced the qualifying period for access to the third level option of the scheme to 12 months in the last budget. I also increased the annual cost of education allowance, paid to people on BTEA, from €254 to €400. These changes came into effect from 1 September 2005.

Following an undertaking to the Dáil and the Committee on Social and Family Affairs, I have further reduced the qualifying period for access to the third level option to nine months. This condition will apply to persons who are participating in the national employment action plan, NEAP, process and where a FÁS employment services officer recommends pursuance of a third level course of study as essential to the enhancement of the individuals' employment prospects. This new condition also came into effect from 1 September 2005.

The BTEA scheme was always intended to benefit people who had difficulty finding employment because of a lack of educational qualifications. In many cases, people who have not completed second level education are held back in their efforts to obtain employment because of this. The qualification period for people who wish to pursue second level education has remained at six months and the numbers taking second level education with the support of BTEA are increasing. Periods spent on FÁS training courses have always counted towards the qualifying period for access to the back-to-education allowance scheme.