Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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138. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of personal advisers recruited by contractors and currently in operation under the JobPath scheme; the basis on which he deems the qualifications and experience of such personal advisers adequate; the procedures in place to ensure that these qualifications and experience, as required by the tendering process, continue to meet the standards set down during the tendering process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21433/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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At present there are over 300 full-time equivalent personal advisers (excluding administrative and support staff) working with JobPath providers. This number will continue to increase as the caseload being managed by JobPath increases.

Existing employers of case officers/personal advisors, including the Department itself and the Local Employment Service providers do not specify particular qualifications as a pre-requisite to appointment to the role of case officer/personal advisor.

The JobPath providers were however required to set out their approach to recruitment and training of staff as part of the procurement process and the proposals submitted were taken into account in the assessment of tenders. As there are two providers the proposals differed somewhat but shared many common characteristics including a multi-stage recruitment process of interviews and assessment centres, and a requirement for candidates to demonstrate specific experience, skills and competencies in areas such as knowledge of local labour market conditions, recruitment practice, customer service, use of IT systems, rapport building and interpersonal skills, and problem solving.

Similarly the training programmes for staff within the JobPath providers share common characteristics including training modules of induction, skills/competency development, on the job mentoring/coaching and the opportunity for professional accreditation through the Institute of Employability Professionals in the UK.

The Department of Social Protection has itself recently completed the design of a modular training programme for its own case officers and expects to have this accredited to level 7/8 within the QQI framework within the next 6 – 9 months.

The Department has built a number of checks into the JobPath including on-site inspections and independent surveys of client experience/satisfaction with the service provided by the JobPath contractors. Failure to demonstrate satisfactory performance can lead to the application of payment penalties and potentially to cancellation of contracts. These checks and measures are in addition to the performance control inherent in the payment by results nature of the contracts.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the deputy.