Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who are long-term unemployed; the targets he has set to reduce the amount of people who have been out of the workforce for a long time; the ways he will meet same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37628/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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According to the latest estimates from the Central Statistics Office there were 29,600 people long-term unemployed in the third quarter of 2006. This represents a long term unemployment rate of 1.4%. The long term unemployment rate fell from 5.5% in September-November 1997 to 1.4% in June-August 2000 and has remained in the range 1.2% to 1.6% since that time. These estimates are based on criteria developed by the ILO and used internationally.

The total number of people on the Live Register at the end of October 2006 was 148,506 of whom; 53,264 are long-term cases, 6,613 of these were in receipt of Jobseekers Benefit, 42,015 were on Jobseekers Allowance and 4,636 were signing on for Credits but not receiving any payment.

The Irish National Employment Action Plan includes a process of systematic engagement of the employment services with unemployed people. Under the plan, people in receipt of Jobseekers Benefit or Jobseekers Allowance who reach various duration thresholds on the Live Register are identified by my Department and referred to FÁS for interview with a view to job placement or offer of training.

Since September 1998 the plan has been progressively extended to all age groups under 55 and with effect from the 1st weekend of July 2006 it has been extended to those aged between 55 and 64 years. In addition a recent Government decision reduced the criteria for selection into the NEAP from 6 months on the Live Register to 3 months. Referral at 3 months has commenced from Monday 16 October 2006. An evaluation of the process recently concluded that the NEAP is an effective labour market measure.

My Department also has a number of other initiatives designed to assist the long term unemployed to return to the active labour force. The back to work allowance was introduced in September 1993 at a time when long term unemployment stood at 8.9%. The scheme proved very effective in helping people who had been long-term unemployed to return to the labour force. There are currently 8,584 participants in the scheme.

My Department also administers the back to education allowance programme. This is a second chance educational opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate unemployed people, lone parents and people with disabilities to improve their skills and qualifications with a view to returning to the work force. There were 7,280 participants in the scheme up to end October 2006.

Furthermore I introduced a number of measures the 2006 Budget to assist social welfare recipients including the long-term unemployed return to work. These include a reduction in the periods required to access the Back to Work Scheme. I reduced the period required to access the self employed strand of the scheme from 3 to 2 years for people on unemployment payments and from 5 years to 2 years for the employee strand. Following the changes to eligibility criteria provided for in the Budget which came into effect on 1st March 2006, the numbers of the Back to Work Allowance new applications have been increasing steadily each month. I have also introduced a 50% tapered withdrawal of earnings between €60 and €90 per week for Rent & Mortgage Interest Supplement.

My Department will continue to monitor all of these schemes to ensure their relevance to current labour market conditions and to ensure that they continue to assist those furthest from the labour market to gain a foothold into sustainable employment or self-employment.