Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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505. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of companies that have been disqualified from the JobBridge scheme following investigations by his Department, the number of recipients who were participating in the scheme in companies that were subsequently disqualified, by year since the scheme was established, by employment sector, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9856/16]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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506. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number and percentage of participants in the JobBridge scheme who have secured paid employment within three, six, nine and 12 months of completing an internship, by year, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9857/16]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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507. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have participated in the JobBridge national internship programme and the number who dropped out before completion, by county, by year, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9858/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 505 to 507, inclusive, together.

JobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, was introduced in July 2011 in response to the unprecedented collapse in the economy – particularly the sharp increase in unemployment.

The primary aim of the scheme is to give unemployed people the opportunity to secure work experience and prove their competence to prospective employers. To date, JobBridge has attracted the voluntary participation of over 46,500 interns, with almost 4,000 people currently on internships.

There are strict terms and conditions which host organisations must comply with in order to participate in the scheme. Failure to comply with these terms and conditions can result in imposition of sanctions against the organisation – typically suspension from participation in the scheme for an appropriate duration having regard to the nature of the breach.

To date random on-site inspections by Department staff found that the overwhelming majority of internships offered under JobBridge comply with the terms and conditions of the scheme with just 86(less than 0.5%)of host organisations being suspendedfrom participation for varying durations. This represents a tiny fraction of the almost 19,000 organisations who have participated in the scheme. There are no organisations currently suspended from participation in the JobBridge scheme.

The number of interns in organisations that were subsequently disqualified (by year and employment sector) since the scheme was established is set out in Table 1.

As at 1 April, 2016, 42,619 people had completed internships. 15,211 progressed immediatelyinto employment on conclusion of the internship - 9,525 with the host organisation and 5,686 with a different organisation. This represents a progression rate of 36%. An annual breakdown of this is set out in Table 2.

Analysis of progression rates at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post completion is not available; however, an independent evaluation conducted by Indecon Economic Consultants (Report 2013) indicated that progression to employment rate increased to 61% within 5 months or more of completion of an internship. This compares very favourably to similar schemes across the EU, where the average progression rate is 34%.

The number of persons who have participated in the JobBridge National Internship Scheme and the number who dropped out before completion, by county and by year, can be found in Tables 3, 4 and 5.

JobBridge internships last for 6 or 9 months. Just under half (46%) of all internships finish early - for a variety of reasons. Almost half (49%) of early-finishers say it is to take up employment and a further 7% go on to further education, training or another internship. About 30% leave for a variety of personal, domestic or health reasons. 14% leave early because they did not find the internship suitable, which is not surprising given that, for many, JobBridge is a first-chance opportunity and sometimes participants find that the particular career direction is not for them. The Department continues to work with them to support them with a range of alternative pathways to work.

Table 1. – The number of recipients which were participating on schemes in companies that were subsequently disqualified, by year and by employment sector since the scheme was established.

Table 2. – JobBridge Interns who entered into employment immediately upon completion of their placement.

Table 3. – JobBridge Interns by County 2014

Table 4. – JobBridge Interns by County 2015

JobBridge Interns by County 2016 to date - 25 March