Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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219. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the checks in place to ensure that two companies (details supplied) contracted to provide JobPath services are offering suitable and appropriate employment opportunities to participants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14236/16]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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220. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the annual cost of contracting two companies (details supplied) to deliver JobPath services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14237/16]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the training that companies (details supplied) contracted to deliver JobBridge undertake to deal with the specific needs of those who are long-term unemployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14238/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 219, 220 and 221 together.

JobPath will support long-term unemployed people and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Two companies, Turas Nua and Seetec, have been contracted by the Department to deliver JobPath services.

Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to find jobs. Each person is assigned a personal advisor who assesses their skills, experience, challenges and work goals and agrees a “personal progression plan” that includes a schedule of activities, actions and job focused targets.

Participants are provided with a range of development supports and may also be referred for further education and training opportunities to assist them in finding full-time sustainable employment. Examples of training and development activities include confidence building, motivation, interview preparation, literacy, IT courses and a variety of industry related skill needs. If placed into a job, the companies will continue to provide in-work support to the client for at least three months and up to twelve months while the client remains in employment.

JobPath is a payment by results model and all initial costs are borne by the companies. JobPath is so structured that the companies will not be able to fully recover their costs until they place sufficient numbers of jobseekers into sustainable jobs. The suitability of employment is a key factor in ensuring that jobs are sustainable. It is not intended to publish the individual payments to the JobPath companies as these are commercially sensitive and to do so would place the State at a disadvantage both in terms of the contracts now in place and any future procurement that may be undertaken.

The JobPath companies are subject to regular on-site checks and inspections to ensure that JobPath is delivered in accordance with contractual obligations. The Department will also commission customer satisfaction surveys to independently assess if customers are satisfied with the level, and quality, of service delivered by the contractors. Failure by the contractors to satisfy the Department’s inspectors or to achieve a satisfactory score in the independent survey will result in payment penalties being applied.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.