Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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536. To ask the Minister for Social Protection to review the operation of the JobBridge programme, given the consistent rumours that unscrupulous employers are abusing it to avail of cheap labour and to add to their profits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10244/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The aim of the scheme is to help unemployed people break the cycle whereby they cannot get a job without experience, but cannot get experience without a job. It caters for a wide variety of jobseekers - those with no previous work experience and unemployed workers who might want, or indeed need, to change career direction to avail of the job opportunities emerging in post-recession Ireland.

Since the scheme was introduced almost 19,000 Host Organisations have provided internship opportunities to over 46,500 unemployed jobseekers. There are at present c 4,000 jobseekers engaged in JobBridge internships. Independent research indicates that circa 60% of these went on to get paid employment within a short period (5 months) of completing an internship. This compares very favourably with similar schemes across the EU where the average rate is 34%. The independent research also indicated that just 10% of participants rated the scheme negatively and that over two thirds of participants would recommend the scheme to a friend or family member.

It should also be noted that JobBridge is entirely voluntary. In order to attract potential interns, Host Organisations must provide opportunities that appeal to jobseekers, if they don’t jobseekers simply won’t apply. Jobseekers are not under any obligation to participate in JobBridge and those who commence an internship can finish their internship at any time with no penalty of any type.

There are a number of measures in place to minimise abuse of the scheme. First, potential Host Organisations must meet strict terms and conditions in order to participate in the scheme. All applications are screened on receipt and those that fail to meet the requirements are rejected.

Second, a Standard Agreement outlining the key duties and hours of the internship placement along with the associated skills, knowledge and learning development to be acquired by the intern. This must be agreed and signed by both the Host Organisation and intern at the outset of the internship.

Third, compliance reports/checks must be completed by the Host Organisation and submitted to the Department.

Fourth, to ensure that Host Organisations are abiding by the terms of the scheme, the Department operates a monitoring regime. This involves the regular review of monthly compliance reports and random monitoring inspection visits.

Over 12,500 monitoring visits have been conducted and 98% of these have been satisfactory. In a small number of cases (86) the Department was of the view that non-compliance by certain organisations warranted a decision to debar them from further participation in the scheme, or to suspend them participation for varying durations depending on the nature of the transgression. This represents less than 0.5% of Host Organisations participating in the scheme.

A second independent evaluation of JobBridge is currently underway to examine the effectiveness of scheme to date and to inform if and how it should be modified to improve outcomes and/or address any issues which are identified in the evaluation. The evaluation comprises a detailed econometric study and comprehensive surveys of host organisation and intern experience. The Department expects the full evaluation to be completed and report published in September 2016.