David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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92. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the National Steering Committee has completed its consideration of the Indecon report recommendations on the JobBridge scheme; her plans to introduce any changes to the scheme as a result, in particular extending it to those on the live register but not in receipt of a qualifying payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38902/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Indecon Report provides a number of key recommendations which are targeted at maximising progression outcomes for interns and ensuring value for money for the exchequer.

I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department have already taken a number of key actions in response to th ese recommendations:

- Two pilot initiatives targeted at non-graduate internships have been launched in the past 6 months, a collaboration with the Crafts Council of Ireland facilitating access a high-quality internship experience in the craft sector, and JobBridge and the Arts, a collaboration with Local Authorities and various small or short-duration festivals and arts projects.

- The 'cooling off' period for host organisations will also be waived where the intern goes directly into employment thereby rewarding successful progression outcomes into employment.

- The Department's quality and control checks has also been improved to provide even more support to interns with a significant increase in monitoring and site visits being conducted by Department officials.

- Codes of Practice and guidelines have been introduced for placements in key sectors such as childcare and health as part of an ongoing review to enhance the quality of internships.

- The maximum number of internships that an intern can avail of will be increased from 2 to 3 and the maximum duration of internships from 9 months to 18 months. This measure is being introduced to give jobseekers that are dissatisfied with an internship more flexibility in finding a suitable alternative placement.

The Department is simplifying eligibility criteria and making them more visible in advance to all applicants.

The Department has commenced a process to redevelop the JobBridge website's design, application and content.

The qualifying criteria for JobBridge will continue to be reviewed on an ongoing basis. However, there are no current plans to extend eligibility to those not in receipt of a qualifying payment. In this regard, it is critical that limited Exchequer resources continue to be targeted at those cohorts that are most in need.