Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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371. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of participants on the jobBridge programme aged 18-25 who are in receipt of each of the following weekly payment of €150, €194 and €238 respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26031/14]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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377. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the information and guidance they provide to host organisations with regard to mentoring on the jobBridge programme, such as information on the role of mentoring, guidance on how often mentoring meetings should take place and the way to provide quality mentoring to interns; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26040/14]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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378. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of interns with regard to employer liability insurance when undertaking internships in host organisations; if her Department provides any guidance to host organisations in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26041/14]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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379. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the proposed development jobBridge programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26042/14]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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380. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will reconsider her proposals to make participation in development jobBridge compulsory for the selected participants; if she will consider other measures to incentivize participation such as additional financial support, intensive job counselling and employer engagement to identify suitable internships; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26043/14]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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383. To ask the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 324, 325, 326, 327, 328 and 329 of 30 April 2014, when her Department will write to this Deputy (details supplied). [26053/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 371, 377 to 380, inclusive, and 383 together.

Table 1 gives the number of JobBridge interns on Jobseekers Allowance and Jobseekers Benefit by age and payment amount as requested.

Comprehensive guidance for host organisations is provided on the JobBridge website (). This guide answers questions such as: What is the JobBridge and National internship Scheme?, Is my Organisation Eligible?, How do I register as a Host Organisation?, What are the legal requirements of a Host Organisation?, What if the Internship is not working out as expected?, in addition to a series of toolkits including ‘Elements of a good internship’, ‘A guide to a good induction programme’, ‘Mentoring Guide’, ‘Effective Coaching and Listening’, and ‘A guide to creating a reference’.

The JobBridge General Guidelines (Nos. 8 and 9) provide that the host organisation’s public/employers liability insurance will cover an intern during the internship.

The Department intends to use the developmental internship, as specified in the Youth Guarantee, as a means of activating and supporting young unemployed people who are the most disadvantaged and most distant from the active labour market. The target cohort are people aged 18-25, with low levels of education and, who may have experienced long periods of unemployment and possibly have additional barriers to employment.

While many elements of the existing JobBridge Scheme will be utilised for this developmental internship, due to the barriers that many of these young people face, additional supports will be provided to assist them complete their developmental internship and to ultimately transition into employment.

The approach to recruitment and candidate preparation will be changed specifically to reflect the needs of these young people. It is intended that employers will offer a number of positions and the Department will select and refer the candidates. This is different to the wider JobBridge scheme, which sees internships publicly advertised and jobseekers competing through open application for these positions.

Interns will receive preparatory training before they commence an internship that will prepare them for the work environment and during the internship, training needs specific the intern will be identified and delivered.

The variant scheme will see the Department dedicate extensive resources to the young jobseekers involved, and in the context of a guaranteed offer, the standard of mutual commitment must be higher.

In relation to outstanding material requested in earlier Parliamentary Questions detailed above, I am pleased to say that a reply has issued directly to the Deputy.

JobBridge Interns by Age Group and Payment Amount