Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 100: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her progress to date in implementing a work experience scheme as announced in the Supplementary Budget on 7 April 2009; the eligibility for this scheme; the places available; the location of these places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44919/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As at 1st December there are 129 participants who have started the Work Placement Programme - 92 graduates and 37 non graduates. Of these starts, 41 are placed in the Public Sector and 88 are placed in the Private Sector. There have been 1,516 graduates and 1,227 non-graduates who have expressed an interest in the programme to date. There are 628 posts available, 393 for graduates and 235 for non-graduates. The following table shows the location of the posts available.

I have recently announced revised criteria for the Work Placement Programme, which came into effect yesterday 1st December. The revised criteria will enable easier access to the programme for the unemployed and companies.

The key changes relate to the eligibility criteria for the unemployed are: Recipients of most social welfare payments, including Job Seekers' Allowance and Job Seekers' Benefit, will now be eligible to apply. Unemployed persons who are not receiving a social welfare payment will also now be eligible to apply. 2009 graduates are now also eligible to apply. The period, for which participants have to be in receipt of a social welfare payment in order to be eligible, has been reduced from 6 months to 3 months.

The key changes relating to the eligibility criteria of firms providing placements are: The Programme will be open to all sectors of the economy including, the private, public, and now the community and voluntary sectors. The requirement for a firm to have at least 10 employees has been removed. Previously firms could only participate if they did not have redundancies in the previous 6 months. This constraint has been reduced to 3 months and where the level of redundancies in the last three months was less than 5% of the workforce, these firms will be eligible to participate. The duration of the work placement has been increased to a maximum of 9 months.