James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding his Department's review of the operation of the Tús and community employment schemes; the difficulties caused to these schemes as a result of these schemes being outsourced to private providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17714/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department provides a range of activation supports catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These supports include the JobPath service and employment programmes such as the Community Employment (CE) scheme and Tús. It is worth highlighting that CE and Tús have always been outsourced to private providers.

JobPath aims to place people into full-time sustainable employment. The period of engagement with the service for any individual is typically 52 weeks. During that time they receive intensive individual support to help them to overcome barriers to employment.

CE and Tús schemes are a stepping stone back to employment but are not full-time sustainable jobs. People who have completed their year long engagement with JobPath may, if eligible, apply to partake in a CE or a Tús scheme after they have been assessed by a Departmental case officer.

In general, people are not allowed participate in two separate schemes at the same time. Given the need to manage the allocation of places to all schemes in an effective manner, my Department does not facilitate or encourage jobseekers to leave one scheme early in order to take up a place on another.

The Deputy will appreciate that the welcome reduction in the unemployment rate is a factor in recruitment to all programmes. However, I recently announced changes which will widen the range of people who can take part in CE, including reducing the entry age to 21 and giving a second opportunity to people who have already taken part. These changes will be rolled out following a consultation process with stakeholders in the coming weeks.

I want to assure the Deputy that the work being done through programmes like CE and Tús is highly valued and recognised by Government and I believe that the changes I have outlined will affirm this.