Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the allowances available to private sector workers who have recently lost their jobs, not through redundancy, in terms of back to education courses; the allowances available for people who have recently lost their jobs, not through redundancy, and who wish to pursue courses through FÁS; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4306/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social and Family Affairs offers a range of education and employment supports designed to assist and facilitate people on social welfare payments to return to the active labour force.

The back to education allowance (BTEA) is the main education support scheme of the Department. It is designed to encourage people on certain social welfare payments to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to work. An applicant must be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for a minimum period, to qualify for the back to education allowance. This requirement has always been a feature of the BTEA scheme and is considered necessary to ensure that limited resources are directed at those most in need. The allowance essentially replaces a person's existing social welfare income and, in addition, an annual €500 cost of education allowance is payable.

In general, an applicant must be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for 6 months if pursuing a second level course or 12 months if pursuing a third level course. In addition, the qualifying period for access to the third level option is further reduced to 9 months for persons who are participating in the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) process and people who are awarded statutory redundancy may access the scheme immediately, provided an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment is established prior to commencing an approved course of study.

FÁS Employment Service helps job-seekers, in particular those who are most marginalised, to enter or re-enter the active labour market. Job-seekers who are considered to be distant from the labour market are provided with appropriate and intensive professional vocational guidance which results in an action plan setting out specific actions and measures to be implemented with a view to helping them integrate into the labour force.

FÁS provides various financial supports in the form of allowances to assist participants on training courses and grants or subventions to encourage employers to support training programmes. Participants on the majority of FÁS training courses are eligible for various allowances. The main allowances given for the course participants are training, travel, accommodation, meals and child care.

FÁS operates a National Contact Centre which may be contacted, by job-seekers, using a free-phone number to obtain information on jobs available and on FÁS training and employment programmes. For information on the full range of allowances and grants and advice on their personal options a person should contact their local FÁS office.