Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 310: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the back to education allowance is only for those who want to upgrade their skills and not for those who want to retrain for a new industry, currently the allowance is curtailed to those who want to do training at a level higher than what they all ready have, that is persons with diplomas who want to do a degree; if the scheme will be made available to those who already have a higher qualification in one area but want to train in a different area at a lower level, considering that certain industries such as construction have been extremely badly hit by the recession it makes sense that construction engineers, architects and so on should be allowed to retrain for completely new industries albeit starting at a lower qualification level. [18306/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The back to education allowance (BTEA) is one of a range of activation supports and policies with the objective of assisting social welfare recipients to improve their life chances by facilitating access to employment, work experience, education and training. The focus of BTEA is to assist those who are most marginalised and distant from the labour market to acquire the necessary education to improve their chances of becoming independent of the social welfare system. The BTEA scheme can offer 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 person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others.

Progression has always been a fundamental condition of BTEA. State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one. This is necessary to ensure displacement does not occur, in that courses could be offered to students who are not progressing at the cost of students progressing from a lower education level.

On May 10th, as part of the Government's Jobs Initiative, 20,900 new and additional places were announced in training, education and work experience programmes. As part of this Initiative a new fund, entitled Springboard, which is being managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), will provide education and training opportunities to support unemployed people. The primary objective of Springboard is to help unemployed people to remain as close as possible to the labour market by accessing part-time flexible higher education and training opportunities to upskill or reskill in areas where sustainable employment opportunities may arise as the economy recovers. The target group for this programme include unemployed people, including those in circumstances outlined in the question, with a previous history of employment who already hold a higher level qualification at NFQ Levels 6 to 9, who may also require additional upskilling or reskilling in order to re-enter employment. Included in this initiative will be part-time Masters courses and, via the part-time education option, unemployed people on jobseekers' payments will be facilitated in retaining these, subject to continuing entitlement, within the broader back-to-education framework.

The BTEA, in conjunction with other employment support schemes, was considered under the Programme for Government 2011-2016 and will be monitored on an ongoing basis.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 311: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the back to school clothing and footwear allowance application form; if she is now dealing with the applications; from whence these application forms can be acquired; the closing date for applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18331/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The administrative arrangements for the 2011 back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme differ from those that applied in previous years. For this year, the majority of back to school clothing and footwear allowance entitlements were fully automated by my Department with no application form required from customers.

Persons who do not receive an automated payment are required to complete an application form that is available for download from www.welfare.ie or by texting "Form BTSCFA", followed by their name and address to 51909. The application form was available from 30 June 2011.

Completed application forms should be returned to Department of Social Protection, PO Box 131, Letterkenny, Co Donegal before 30 September 2011.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 312: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the assistance she is giving to a person (details supplied) in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18703/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The person concerned was awarded Jobseeker's Allowance from 19th April, 2011.

The first payment issued to Longford Post Office on 7th June, 2011.