Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she is satisfied with the level of co-operation between local employment services and her Department's local area offices; the ways she will improve same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3215/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland's National Employment Service (NES) consists of 2 strands, Employment Services operated by FÁS, the National Training and Employment Authority, and the Local Employment Service (LES) which operates mainly through Local Area Partnership Companies on contract from FÁS.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs works closely with FÁS in providing opportunities for people on social welfare to access the range of training and employment services afforded by that organisation. An important area of this cooperation is in relation to the joint National Employment Action Plan. This is the main welfare to work measure under which all persons between the ages of 18 and 65 years who are approaching 3 months on the Live Register are identified by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and referred to FÁS for interview with a view to assisting them enter/re-enter the labour market. This includes people from new member states and those from outside EU.

The NEAP process is a key element in addressing the progression needs of those on the Live Register. It provides a stimulus to job search and affords an opportunity to explore, under professional guidance, the full range of employment and training services offered by FÁS. Just over 50,000 people were referred to FÁS under the NEAP in the 10 months to the end of October 2008. Of these 28,219 have left the Live Register of whom 6,664 were placed by FÁS in jobs, training or education.

Each week, FÁS and DSFA exchange files containing relevant client details of all current customers for the purpose of referring the unemployed and for the collation of statistics on outcomes of FÁS engagement with the targeted caseload. Social welfare staff in local offices liaise locally with FÁS to schedule interview dates for unemployed people.

FÁS together with the Local Employment Services provided by Area-Based Partnerships, is currently gearing up its Employment Services to provide increased capacity for the referrals from the Live Register under the National Employment Action Plan. It is proposed to refer people to the Local Employment Services (LES) of which there are over 100 offices throughout the country. Discussions on this initiative are on-going between DSFA, LES and FÁS.

The objective of the LES is to focus on the provision of services to those most disadvantaged in the labour market as a direct response to the local context within which it operates.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if efforts are being made to make the back to work enterprise allowance more accessible; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3198/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The back to work allowance scheme is one of the department's employment support schemes designed to assist and encourage the long term unemployed, lone parents, people with disabilities and other social welfare recipients to return to the active labour force. There are two strands to the scheme; the back to work allowance (BTWA) for persons who take up employment and the back to work enterprise allowance (BTWEA) for persons who become self employed. These allowances provide a monetary incentive for people who are long term dependant on social welfare payments to make the return to work financially attractive and viable.

To qualify for the back to work enterprise allowance a person must be setting up a self — employment business that has been approved by a Partnership Company or a department's facilitator and, in the case of someone on the live register, they must be in receipt of a jobseeker's payment for 2 years prior to commencing their self employment. Participants on the back to work enterprise allowance receive a tapered percentage of their social welfare payment over a four year period. Participants may also retain entitlement to certain other secondary benefits. At the end of December 2008, there were 8,162 participants availing of the back to work scheme of which 4,604 were participating in the self employed option.

The scheme has been subject to review and modification over the years to ensure that it continues to assist those furthest from the labour market. The qualifying conditions will continue to be monitored in the context of its objectives and the changing economic circumstances.