Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Question 40: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the impact of the jobs initiative on the live register. [15366/11]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if, in view of comments (details supplied) that the jobs initiative will only play a limited role in taking persons off the live register on 31 May 2011, she envisages announcing further measures to tackle unemployment. [14532/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 40 and 66 together.

The Jobs Initiative recently announced by the Government contains additional labour market activation measures that aim to provide unemployed people with enhanced opportunities to maintain and develop their skills and competencies while also offering the possibility of securing valuable work experience. These measures will assist those seeking employment to maintain their links with the labour market while also improving their prospects of securing employment.

The Jobs Initiative contains an additional 20,900 education, training and work experience places for the unemployed. A key element of that initiative is the introduction by my Department of the National Internship Scheme (NIS) which will provide 5,000 places for internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months in organisations in the private, public or community and voluntary sectors. These opportunities will provide participants with valuable work experience that will develop their skills and enhance their career prospects. The national internship scheme will be launched in July. In addition, from July 2, the rate of PRSI on jobs paying up to €356 per week will be halved to 4.25%, up to end 2013.

These measures and others announced as part of the jobs initiative, complement ongoing development in the labour market policy area. The 5,000 NIS places, for example, are additional to the 5,000 places announced under the Tús community work placement initiative in last December's Budget. My Department also operates a range of employment support measure designed to encourage and support social welfare recipients of working age to reduce their dependency on welfare payments. Supports available include the back to education allowance, the back to work schemes and employer job PRSI incentive scheme.

In addition to these employment support measures, my Department is responsible for the National Employment Action Plan (NEAP) which is a key element of the Government's labour market policy. The Department is currently in the process of revising the NEAP to achieve a more efficient organisation, targeting and use of resources as well as increasing the mix of appropriate interventions to be targeted at identified cohorts in order to improve an individual's employability by providing them with a path to employment. This includes increasing activation activity, including the numbers referred through the NEAP process, increasing the frequency and intensity of the intervention to individuals throughout their unemployment and the provision of appropriate State unemployment supports.

The Programme for Government states that a new National Employment and Entitlements Service (NEES) will be established under the management of the Department of Social Protection. The objective is to integrate all employment and benefit support services in a single delivery unit which will provide a 'one stop shop' for people wishing to establish their benefit entitlements, seek employment and / or seek advice about their training options. The focus is very much on the individual, his / her right to a payment and the corresponding responsibility to engage in employment, training or upskilling, as appropriate. This should improve a person's life chances. A number of streams of work are already underway which will facilitate the establishment of the integrated service including the transfer of the administration of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to the Department of Social Protection and the secondment of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive at the beginning of this year. The transfer and integration of the employment and community employment services of FÁS to the Department is also underway and it is envisaged that the integration of staff will commence later this year.

The measures announced under the Jobs Initiative, together with ongoing and planned further development of a range of activation and employment support measures, will have a significant impact on the Live Register, particularly in so far as they prepare unemployed people for jobs that will be generated as the economy improves.