Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will comment on the live register figures for February 2010 which indicate that there are 436,956 unemployed or under-employed across the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11630/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The monthly live register is published by the Central Statistics Office on the basis of data collated by my Department in respect of the last Friday of each month. At the end of March, 2010, the live register stood at 435,121. This represents a decrease of 1,835 on the February figure of 436,956. The February total was almost unchanged from the January figure of 436,936.

While these trends are encouraging, I am acutely conscious of the human consequences of unemployment and the need for those affected to get access to financial supports as quickly as possible. One of the main priorities of my Department is to ensure that customers get paid on time. In this context, effective measures have been taken to manage the growth in the number of claims for a jobseeker's payment and to keep delays to a minimum. These include the introduction of improved processes and procedures to increase productivity and the assignment of additional staff to claim processing.

Apart from providing people with timely access to financial support after they lose their jobs, it is important that as many people as possible are kept in work and that support is available to help people move from welfare back into employment. While the primary responsibility for job creation rests with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, my Department has a role in supporting people from welfare to work.

The National Employment Action Plan (NEAP), operated jointly with FÁS, is the main activation measure for jobseekers. Under the NEAP, everyone who is approaching 3 months on the live register is 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. 86,782 people were referred to FÁS under the NEAP in the period from January to December 2009, an increase of 44% over the same period in 2008.

My Department also provides jobseekers with one-to-one assistance through its facilitator service. Facilitators work closely with FÁS and other agencies at a local level and help jobseekers develop individual progression plans to enhance their skills and ultimately improve their employment chances. 22,000 people were referred to facilitators during 2009.

My Department will also, under the new role it has been given, including responsibility for the employment services of FÁS and various schemes such as the Community Employment Scheme, will be much more directly involved in providing new opportunities to those who do not get full time employment.

My Department operates a range of activation programmes and second chance education opportunities which assist unemployed people and other social welfare recipients to improve their employability and personal and family situations. The back to work enterprise allowance is designed to encourage the long term unemployed to develop a business while allowing them to retain a reducing proportion of their qualifying social welfare payment, plus secondary benefits, over two years. At the end of March 2010, there were 5,137 people availing of the scheme.

The short term enterprise allowance is payable to a person who qualifies for jobseeker's benefit and who wishes to commence in self employment. This allowance is payable for the duration of their Jobseeker's Benefit entitlement. At end of March 2010 there were 1,393 participants in the scheme.

The back to education allowance (BTEA) aims to give welfare recipients who left school early and those without third level qualifications a second chance to attain educational qualifications so as to reduce their risk of long term unemployment. The allowance is paid at a standard weekly rate equivalent to the maximum personal rate of the relevant social welfare payment that qualifies the applicant for participation in the scheme. 21,096 people were in receipt of BTEA at the end of March 2010.

In addition, my Department, together with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Department of Education and Science and FÁS supports the unemployed under a number of new measures. These include the Work Placement programme, the Short Time Work Training programme, the Back to College Initiative and the redundant apprentice programme.

The Government is providing, through FÁS, a total of 147,000 training and activation places for jobseekers. In addition there were 166,000 places available, including additional provision, education programmes in 2009, while the number of third level places has also increased dramatically over the past ten years.

The nature and structure of the supports provided by my Department to the people on the live register will continue to be monitored in the context of changes in the economic climate.