Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 374: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when she proposes to establish a national employment and entitlement service as promised in the programme for Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22440/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department is establishing a new National Employment and Entitlements Service, as provided for in the Programme for Government, which will integrate employment and benefit payment services within the Department. As part of the process of establishing and developing this new service, the Department has commenced a major and comprehensive programme of change management entailing the integration of services previously, or currently, provided by other agencies – including both the Employment Services and Community Employment Programmes of FÁS and the Community Welfare Services (CWS) of the HSE.

With regard to the timeline for the development of the National Employment and Entitlements Service the assignment and integration of functions and the full transformation to a case management approach focussed on activation, will be a multi-annual programme of work. However, significant progress has already been made and many aspects of the new service will be delivered within the coming twelve months.

The administration of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme has already been transferred to the Department of Social Protection with the secondment of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive at the beginning of this year. The intention is to have the staff fully transferred into the Department by the end of September this year. This will enable the Department to integrate the payment of all benefits into one organisation simplifying customer processes.

Planning for the transfer and integration of the Employment Services and Community Employment Services of FÁS to the Department has already commenced and it is envisaged that the transfer of staff will commence later this year. Again this will enable the Department to simplify and integrate the delivery of employment support services to customers. Even in advance of integration, FÁS and the Department are already working on a number of pilot projects in relation to the development of case management, the identification of those who are most at risk of falling into long-term unemployment, and the provision of appropriately tailored responses to their needs. These pilot projects will be completed and evaluated in the coming months after which approaches will be developed for their rollout nationwide as part of the National Employment and Entitlements Service.

As part of such an approach, FÁS and the Department have worked closely together on the development the National Internship Scheme which was launched by the Taoiseach on the 30 June this year. It is expected that this scheme will provide 5,000 internships of up to nine months duration and participants will retain their social welfare entitlements and will receive a 'top-up' of €50 per week. The scheme, which will be the first public manifestation of the National Employment and Entitlements Service, is already receiving strong support from the business community and potential participants.