Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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218. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the budget for the youth guarantee in 2013, 2014 and 2015; the number of places available in the youth guarantee in 2013 and 2014 and the number expected to participate in 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41888/14]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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231. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress of the implementation of the youth guarantee scheme; and if or when it is envisaged that pilot schemes of the overall scheme which were in place in parts of Dublin will be extended nationwide. [42072/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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237. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which the youth guarantee scheme is likely to be accessed in order to address youth unemployment in a formal and planned way; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42150/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 218, 231 and 237 together.

The objective of the Youth Guarantee is to ensure that young people receive a quality offer of assistance within four months of becoming unemployed. This objective is to be achieved over time by enhancing and prioritising the Intreo engagement with newly unemployed young people, and by maintaining and developing the current range of education, training and employment interventions for young people.

The rollout of the Youth Guarantee will be based on the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan, which was published in January 2014. Implementation of the Youth Guarantee began in 2014. Starting in 2014, and for completion by the end of 2015, processes and programmes are being progressively rolled out to ensure that all of those young unemployed people who need most support (i.e. are assessed as having a low probability of securing employment in the absence of support from the Public Employment Services) will receive a Youth Guarantee offer within four months.

While the resources under the Youth Guarantee are targeted more towards those with the highest risk of becoming long-term unemployed, all young people signing on enter the engagement process (via Group Engagement sessions) within the first two weeks of signing on. Effectively, therefore, all persons under the age of 25 who become unemployed and join the Live Register represent the target group at whom policies developed under the Guarantee are aimed.

The Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan provides for over 28,000 programme opportunities for unemployed young people in 2014. This figure excludes some 24,000 places provided for young people through PLC courses and apprenticeships. These PLC and apprenticeship places, together with the wide range of vocational third-level courses provided for the young, although not reserved for unemployed jobseekers, nevertheless contribute to the spirit of the guarantee.

In relation to the 28,000 plus places for unemployed young people, approximately 14,500 of these had been taken up at the end of September. The table supplied below displays both the total estimate for the full-year intake and costs provided in the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan as well as the most recent year-to-date intake figures. The estimated full-year cost of the measures included in the table is €336 million.

Take-up is expected to rise substantially by year-end, for several reasons.

First, the student intake on programmes such as the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) and Vocational Training Opportunity Scheme (VTOS) is concentrated in September/October in line with the academic calendar. In addition, the intake of young people to the 2014 iteration of the Momentum programme for long-term unemployed jobseekers has just begun (late September).

Second, some of the initiatives planned under the guarantee required primary legislation to allow positive discrimination on age grounds in the provision of employment services and supports. This legislation was enacted as part of the Social Welfare Bill over the summer.

Two employment schemes in particular, the Youth Guarantee developmental internship programme and the JobsPlus variant for young people (supporting young unemployed at risk of becoming long-term unemployed who have been signing on the Live Register for 4 months), were dependent on this legislation being passed. These schemes will be in place shortly. The legislation also permits the introduction of earlier and more intensive engagement by INTREO with the young unemployed which should also translate increased placement on schemes covered by the Youth Guarantee; processes to give effect to this engagement are currently being implemented by the Department.

Estimates for the projected 2015 inflow and associated costs will be at the same level as those planned for 2014.

The Ballymun Youth Guarantee Pilot is being mainly funded by the European Commission. Such specific funding for other pilot programmes is not available. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Department will operate a specific scheme for each of its 60+ local offices. However there will be flexibility to tailor the implementation to local conditions (for example with regard to the cohorts of young people to be selected for engagement in the first instance etc.) and the specific approach to be followed in each area, be it rural or urban, will be a matter for local DSP management in consultation with relevant stakeholders. It is intended that the approach in other areas will however benefit from the lessons learned during the Ballymun pilot. In particular, it is intended, that local employment initiatives will be driven by local employer groups, local DSP/Intreo staff, local community groups and local training providers working collaboratively, as in Ballymun, to tailor the approach to their local circumstances.



Youth Guarantee Estimates and Update Table