John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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129. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the rationale behind the recent decision to impose an obligation on those moving from a VTOS payment to a back to education allowance payment to apply for a jobseeker's payment before being assessed for a the BTEA; if she will acknowledge this change in procedure is causing undue stress to those hoping to move to BTE in 2013; if she will commit to enable those persons who are already in the VTOS system to move seamlessly to a BTE payment and restrict the change in regulation to new entrants to the schemes (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40167/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Back To Education Allowance (BTEA) is a second chance education opportunities scheme designed to support jobseekers and other categories of social protection payment recipients to improve their skill base and re-enter the labour market. Recipients of the allowance must be in receipt of a qualifying social protection payment immediately prior to the commencement of a course of study.

Changes were introduced to the BTEA as a result of measures agreed in the context of the last Budget, the pressure on resources and following the implementation of a number of recommendations arising from the review of employment support schemes, which was published in January 2013 and was followed by a stakeholder consultation. As a general principle, BTEA will only be considered where a prior entitlement to a social protection payment has been established. BTEA is not intended as an alternative funding mechanism for the pursuit of full-time education, given that options already exist under the student grant schemes operated and funded by the Department of Education and Skills.

The provision that allowed a person on Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS) and certain other schemes to transfer directly to BTEA ceased in line with the review findings mentioned above. A person participating on VTOS must now establish an underlying entitlement to a DSP payment in order to qualify for BTEA. These changes will ensure that the main source of public income support for persons attending further and higher education are the means-tested student grant schemes. It will also lessen the risk that BTEA may become an alternative funding stream for accessing further and higher education courses involving substantial higher costs for the Exchequer and leading to inequalities for students.

The priority for this Department is that BTEA will be focused, targeted and suitable for the needs of the unemployed and the labour market in the future. In this context it is worth noting that the numbers availing of BTEA and the associated cost of the scheme has risen dramatically in recent years. Numbers for the current 2012/13 academic year are 25,961 which represents a 191% increase on the 2007/08 numbers.