Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of money spent on and the number of people in receipt of the back to education allowance, back to work enterprise allowance, back to work allowance in April 2009; the community employment scheme payment, training allowances and other FÁS training payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23205/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There is a range of education and employment supports available to people in receipt of social welfare payments. These initiatives are designed to assist them in returning to the active labour force. Included in these measures are the back to work allowance and back to education allowance schemes. In April 2009 there were 11,646 people in receipt of the back to education allowance for the 2008/2009 academic year. The provisional expenditure on the scheme for April 2009 was €9.97 million.

At week ended 24th April 2009 the total number of participants in the Back to Work Allowance scheme was 7,248. This included two strands, the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance with 4,225 and the Back to Work Allowance (Employee) with 3,023. The provisional expenditure is not broken down between the two strands but the total for the scheme for April 2009 was €5.07 million. FÁS offers a range of training courses suited to the needs of both jobseekers looking for employment and employees wishing to improve their skills. Data for April 2009 in respect of the number of people and expenditure on the community employment scheme, training allowances and other FÁS training payments is not available to this Department.