Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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705. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to increase Back to Education Allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24961/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is designed to support second chance education. It enables social welfare customers in receipt of certain payments to pursue full-time education courses and to continue to receive income support in the form of an allowance. The BTEA is paid for the duration of the course of study, subject to the customer continuing to meet the conditions of the allowance and remaining eligible for a DSP payment. The allowance is paid weekly and replaces the customer’s qualifying payment. In general, most customers will also have certain registration and related college fees paid by SUSI.

The operation of the BTEA has been comprehensively revised over the past three years and I have no plans to further revise the current arrangements. Overall, the Deputy should note that some €144 million has been provided in 2016 to meet the cost of allowances paid by my Department. This represents a considerable investment in supporting some 18,000 customers in the past year to acquire the necessary education and skills to re-enter the labour market.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.