Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of staff in her Department specifically working to encourage the unemployed to avail of education and training opportunities or to avail of the back to work enterprise schemes; her plans to divert facilitators into fraud detection; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26476/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Employment Action Plan (NEAP), operated jointly by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and FÁS, is the main welfare to work measure for jobseekers. The NEAP process is fundamental to 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. Under the plan, 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 or re-enter the labour market. The referral capacity under the plan has nearly doubled for 2009 from 6,500 cases per month to 12,250. Claims for jobseeker payments are processed in the Department's local offices.

Each claimant for a jobseeker's payment is given an information sheet when they make their claim that, among other things, lists the range of employment support services operated by the Department. This includes the back to work enterprise allowance, the short-term enterprise allowance and the education allowance scheme. The relevant information and booklets are also available in each of the Department's local offices. Details of the schemes are provided on the Department's website and also on the websites of the Community Information Service and other relevant websites. In May 2009, a mailshot was issued to 51,000 people under 25 on the live register advising them about education supports available to them.

Jobseekers claimants are also advised about the Department's facilitator service which is available to help a claimant to explore the range of work and educational options available. The Department's facilitator service has been increased from 40 to 60, with a further ten facilitators currently being appointed. Facilitators are working closely with FÁS and other agencies at national and local level to identify appropriate education, training and development opportunities. In addition, the frontline staff of the Department dealing with customers provide information on a range of issues and would normally advise customers of progression opportunities available. Frontline staff are supported by employment support section who act as a central support unit.

The Government has devoted significant resources to the back to work enterprise allowance and the back to education allowance over the years. In view of their important role in enhancing the employability skills of jobseekers, the Department continues to promote the schemes through all the channels at its disposal. In the light of the unprecedented increase in the live register in the last year and the associated increase in the number of claims to be processed, the capacity of local office staff and the general inspectors to undertake control activity has been curtailed.

Control of schemes, however, is an integral part of the activity of all staff, including facilitators whose main role is activation. To support the ongoing programme of control activity, proposals are being developed to integrate the control of high risk cases into the activation programme. The Department will continue to monitor all activity and target its resources to maintain a balance between customer service and control.