Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the way in which the jobs plan is creating jobs for the long term unemployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41823/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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There are two key elements to the Government’s strategy to address unemployment – the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work.

The Action Plan for Jobs has set the objective of supporting the creation of 100,000 new jobs in the economy by 2016 by transforming the operating environment for business, improving our competitiveness and building on our strengths in a number of key sectors. The aim of Pathways to Work is to ensure that, as the economy recovers, as many of those new jobs as possible are filled by people who are on the Live Register.

Pathways to Work places a particular emphasis on supporting those who are long term unemployed. It has an objective of ensuring that at least 75,000 of those who are currently long-term unemployed will move into employment by 2015. It also aims to reduce the average time spent on the Live Register from 21 months, to less than 12 months by the end of 2015.

The establishment of the new integrated National Employment and Entitlement Service under Pathways to Work will transform the nature and level of engagement between our employment services and those who are unemployed. It will also provide better targeted services to both job seekers and employers.

The labour market activation measures outlined in Pathways include over 85,000 job placement and work experience places to be delivered this year by the Department of Social Protection, and over 450,000 training and education places to be delivered by the Department of Education and Skills.

There are also financial supports available to employers who recruit a person who is long term unemployed. These include Revenue’s “Job Assist” scheme and the Employer’s PRSI Exemption scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection. As part of the Action Plan process, I have been actively promoting these schemes to employers in recent months, with the support of business representative bodies.

We must continue to do all we can to facilitate the return to work of those who have lost their jobs. I am currently preparing the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs on behalf of the Government and will be exploring further measures which can be taken to transform our economy and support job creation.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he has taken to reduce bureaucracy and red tape in an effort to protect and encourage employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42022/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 sets out a range of measures designed to stimulate the economy and encourage employment growth. Reducing administrative burdens has the potential to deliver cost savings and efficiencies for businesses which will assist them in growing employment. This is a key focus for my Department and its Offices and Agencies.

Significant progress has been made by my Department, with a reduction in administrative burdens of 24.8% already achieved in the areas of Employment Law, Company Law and Health & Safety Law; this amounts to annual savings for business of almost €207 million. Details of all the initiatives making up this total are available on my Department’s website www.djei.ie.

Successful initiatives resulting in significant savings include: In Company Law, savings of €82 million per annum have already been realised, more than €33 million of which are due to the work of the Companies Registration Office (CRO), as companies can submit their annual returns online via the CRO website and can now use digital signatures for the B1 Form and Accounts; The audit exemption threshold has been increased to the maximum level permitted under EU law. This will achieve potential additional savings for Irish SMEs of approximately €2.8 million annually; In Health & Safety Law, a total of €123 million in annual administrative savings for business has been delivered by the HSA via two key projects: the BeSMART online tool for preparing the Risk Assessment and Safety Statement (€59m), and the SMP20 Guidelines (€64m), which assist construction firms with fewer than 20 employees in establishing and maintaining an effective safety management system.

The reform of the State's Workplace Relations Services, that I set in train last year, will, among other matters, deliver a simplified two-tiered structure comprising a single body of first instance, the Workplace Relations Commission, and a single body of appeal, in effect an enhanced Labour Court. This new structure will provide a better service for both employees and employers, with fewer delays and reduced administrative burdens. Already there has been some significant early progress, including the development of a single complaint form for all workplace relations complaints, the establishment of a single contact portal, Workplace Relations Customer Services, to handle all complaints and enquiries, the launch of a single website, www.workplacerelations.ie, containing all relevant information on employment rights and industrial relations and the commencement of a Pilot Early Resolution Service which will seek to resolve disputes without recourse to adjudication or inspection. Work has commenced on the drafting of a Workplace Relations Bill to give effect to this new structure.

My Department also coordinates the cross-Government measurement and reduction of administrative burdens towards the 25% target by the end of 2012. A project to measure the burden imposed by regulation under the responsibility of seven Departments and Revenue was initiated in September 2011. Following completion of its measurement exercise, each participating Department must then set out how it will achieve the remaining reductions necessary to reach the target and report to Government with its Simplification Plan. Revenue’s report on its administrative burden reductions, which has reached the 25% target, has been published on its website.

The current overall reduction is just over 15% which includes the 24.8 % achieved by my Department, the 25% achieved by Revenue and a 30% reduction achieved by the CSO.

A further initiative, which will be of benefit to small businesses, in particular, has been the launch of businessregulation.ie. This new website provides a single online source of information on regulations and how to comply with them. Business will no longer have to search multiple Government websites to find out their obligations.

Work is continuing to identify new areas where administrative burdens on business can be reduced and in this regard the High Level Group on Business Regulation has prioritised a number of areas for attention in its 2012 Work Programme. These areas are currently being considered and will be published in the Group’s annual report later this year.