Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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388. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a breakdown on a county basis of where the 10,000 additional community employment places announced in Budget 2013 have been allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18905/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The 10,000 additional activation places announced in Budget 2013 are broken down as follows:

- 2,000 additional Community Employment places (being drawn down on request by existing CE projects nationally, as detailed below)

- 2,500 additional Tús places (focussed on high-demand areas using existing Local Development Companies)

- 2,500 additional JobBridge places nationally

- 3,000 on the new Local Authority social employment scheme (not yet operational).

The process for Community Employment Sponsors applying for additional places is still ongoing at present and I have included a summary breakdown by Departmental Division (region) of the position as at Friday 19 April 2013 below.

The 2,000 additional places for the Community Employment (CE) programme announced in Budget 2013 will be an ongoing commitment to the programme and will increase the overall number of CE places to 25,300 inclusive of Supervisor posts. These places are being approved on a phased basis from the end of January to the end of the year, in line with the overall CE budget allocation. Schemes have been notified of the availability of these additional places and the application process.

The allocation of the 2,000 CE places will be informed by the following criteria:

- The population of long-term unemployed persons in each regional Division of the Department, the number of claimants on Jobseeker's Allowance, lone parents and disability claimants in receipt of a welfare payment for 52 weeks or more.

- Priority will be given to schemes and organisations who are involved in the delivery of community child-care services, social and health-care services for people with a disability. This is in order to support the provision of these services and offer training qualifications and work experience to CE participants. An allocation of 500 of the additional places will be reserved for child-care support and 500 of the additional places for social and health-related services.

- Priority will be given to applicants who are involved in Drug Rehabilitation Services and who consider participation on CE to be a further step in this process. Additional CE places will be made available to respond to new proposals.

- To encourage innovation, new approaches and models of delivery will be encouraged from organisations who are experienced in addressing the needs of long-term unemployed. Approximately 100 places will be reserved for such proposals. However, this will be reviewed on the basis of the quality of applications received.

- The balance of places will be made available to schemes who can demonstrate a clear justification on the basis of quality of service and performance.

- For all applications, priority will be given to schemes and organisations who can demonstrate a track record in the development and progression of participants into employment.

The standard CE eligibility criteria will apply to participants taking up these additional places. Persons in continuous receipt of a CE-qualifying social welfare payment for at least 52 weeks are eligible to apply for participation on CE. The duration on CE will be determined by the profile of the CE participant as is currently the case. The Department is committed to the continuing improvement of CE to ensure value for money, progression of the job seeker and support for communities.