Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will set up, promote and evaluate a national career development planning programme for lone parents, to assist them, where appropriate to access relevant education, skill development and related supports. [40166/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social Protection operates a range of employment support services that are designed to encourage and to support social welfare recipients of working age, including lone parents, to reduce their dependency on social welfare payments and to return to work. These services are provided through the Department's network of locally-based Facilitators.

The primary role of these Facilitators is to work with social welfare recipients to help them to identify appropriate training or development programmes that will enhance their skills and ultimately improve their employment chances as well as help them to continue to develop on a personal level. They work in close co-operation with other agencies and service providers including FÁS, VECS, other education and training providers and the local community and voluntary sector. In addition, they provide advice and support to customers who wish to access the Back-to-Education Allowance Scheme and the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance Scheme that are run by this Department.

Currently, all lone parents who present themselves to FÁS Employment Services are already provided with a one-to-one guidance interview with an Employment Services Officer. As part of this process, lone parents are advised on suitable labour market opportunities such as current work vacancies and suitable training/employment programme places, and may also be referred to other FÁS supports. A new support model to help people to overcome barriers and to increase their opportunity to access training and employment programmes and, ultimately, the open labour market, is being tested by FÁS with lone parents. This 'Steps to Employment' Programme is aimed at individuals who are parenting alone who want to get a job or improve their work prospects and who need to learn new skills through training or a return to education in order to achieve this.

This Department also operates the Back-to-Education Allowance (BTEA) Scheme. Since its introduction, the primary objective of this Scheme is to help those who are in receipt of a social welfare payment to improve their employability and job-readiness by acquiring additional educational qualifications. It is a second-chance education opportunities scheme designed to remove the barriers to participation in second and third-level education by enabling eligible people on social welfare to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held. A total of 3,220 lone parents availed of the Scheme in 2009.

Under recently announced changes in ministerial responsibility, the Community Services Programme and the Rural Social Scheme have been transferred to this Department from the former Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Work is also underway to finalise the transfer of both the Employment Services and the Community Services divisions of FÁS to this Department. Overall, the transfer of functions that is being implemented will facilitate the delivery of a more streamlined and effective response to the needs of people of working age, including lone parents, to assist them, where appropriate, to access relevant education, skill development and related supports.