Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of the additional places in training, work experience and education opportunities promised in the programme for Government that have a participant in place. [21327/11]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The majority of the additional training places (15,900) for the unemployed contained in the Jobs Initiative which was announced in May 2011 are being delivered by my Department through the following programmes:

6,000 places on FÁS Specific Skills Training Courses

3,000 places on the Back to Education Initiative (FE)

1,000 places on Post Leaving Certificate Courses (FE)

5,900 places on the Springboard Initiative (HE) and

5,000 places made available through the National Internship Programme (JobBridge) which is being managed by the Department of Social Protection.

Arrangements for filling these places are at different stages at present. FÁS Specific Skills Training Courses I understand from FÁS that the additional 1,000 places for the longer Specific Skills Training Courses have been identified and scheduled with some courses already commenced and participants for the remainder currently being recruited. FÁS are planning to commence over the next 3 months the remaining short, evening and blended learning, specific skills training courses with the additional 5,000 places. FÁS is confident that it will achieve its target in this area in 2011.

The additional 1,000 Further Education Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) and 3,000 Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) places are being prioritised for the unemployed. These additional places have been allocated to Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and other providers and are being made available to participants for the current academic year. It is expected that the additional 1,000 learners on PLC programmes will be fully utilised by the end of September. Data on enrolments will be notified to my Department as part of the standard 30 September enrolment returns which will be available at the end of the year. The additional BTEI places are designed to provide flexible short term programmes, with priority given to people who are unemployed and who left school prior to completing their Leaving Certificate. VECs are currently in the process of recruiting participants and initiating programmes for the Jobs Initiative. Data on the number of participants availing of these places will be submitted by VECs as part of end of year reports.

Springboard Applications for the 5,900 Springboard places opened on 25 May 2011 through the online applications facility on the Bluebrick.ie. web portal. It is open to applicants to submit multiple applications and to date 16,040 applications have been received from 6,736 people. 3,792 applicants have been accepted and are enrolled on courses and 2,378 applications are currently being processed. As applications are still being submitted and processed, the overall position in relation to uptake will not be known for another few weeks. The majority of Springboard programmes will have commenced by mid October.

JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme came into operation on 1st July 2011. This scheme provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for up to 5,000 unemployed individuals at any one time in a Host Organisation. I understand from the Department of Social Protection that as of Friday 16th September a total of 2,471 internship opportunities with host organisations were approved and were available on the JobBridge website to be filled. In addition, to date 1,276 interns have commenced an internship under the JobBridge scheme. Of these, 583 individuals have converted their Work Placement Programme placement into a JobBridge internship.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects to see the resourcing of an additional 15,000 places in training, work experience and education opportunities for those out of work in view of the fact that to date the only initiative has been JobBridge. [21151/11]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The majority of the additional places (15,900) for the unemployed contained in the Jobs Initiative which was announced in May 2011 are being delivered by my Department through the following programmes.

6,000 places on FÁS Specific Skills Training Courses

3,000 places on the Back to Education Initiative (FE)

1,000 places on Post Leaving Certificate Courses (FE)

5,900 places on the Springboard Initiative (HE) and

5,000 places made available through the National Internship Programme (JobBridge) which is being managed by the Department of Social Protection.

Arrangements for filling these places are at different stages at present.

I understand from FÁS that the additional 1,000 places for the longer Specific Skills Training Courses have been identified and scheduled with some courses already commenced and participants for the remainder currently being recruited. FÁS are planning to commence over the next 3 months the remaining short, evening and blended learning, specific skills training courses with the additional 5,000 places.

FÁS is confident that it will achieve its target in this area in 2011. The additional 1,000 Further Education Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) and 3,000 Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) places are being prioritised for the unemployed. These additional places have been allocated to Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and other providers and are being made available to participants for the current academic year.

It is expected that the additional 1,000 learners on PLC programmes will be fully utilised by the end of September. Data on enrolments will be notified to my Department as part of the standard 30 September enrolment returns which will be available at the end of the year. The additional BTEI places are designed to provide flexible short term programmes, with priority given to people who are unemployed and who left school prior to completing their Leaving Certificate. VECs are currently in the process of recruiting participants and initiating programmes for the Jobs Initiative. Data on the number of participants availing of these places will be submitted by VECs as part of end of year reports.

Applications for the 5,900 Springboard places opened on 25 May 2011 through the online applications facility on the Bluebrick.ie. web portal. It is open to applicants to submit multiple applications and to date 16,040 applications have been received from 6,736 people. 3,792 applicants have been accepted and are enrolled on courses and 2,378 applications are currently being processed. As applications are still being submitted and processed, the overall position in relation to uptake will not be known for another few weeks. The majority of Springboard programmes will have commenced by mid October.

JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme came into operation on 1st July 2011. This scheme provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for up to 5,000 unemployed individuals at any one time in a Host Organisation. I understand from the Department of Social Protection that as of Friday 16th September a total of 2,471 internship opportunities with host organisations were approved and were available on the JobBridge website to be filled. In addition, to date 1,276 interns have commenced an internship under the JobBridge scheme. Of these, 583 individuals have converted their Work Placement Programme placement into a JobBridge internship.