Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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585. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has considered or examined the feasibility of removing the condition whereby a person must be on the live register in order to access training and activation supports; if so, the implications of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30967/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments - Jobseeker’s Benefit or Jobseeker’s Allowance - that are conditional on the recipient being actively seeking and available for employment, as well as, in the case of Jobseeker’s Allowance, meeting a means test. The employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused in the first instance on this cohort of unemployed people.

Many other services are also available to people who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. For example, employment services, such as advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools, are available to people if they register with the Department’s Intreo offices regardless of their social welfare status.

Unemployed persons not in receipt of qualifying payments may also be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through ETB training for unemployed people, but are not eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking the course. An unemployed person who does not qualify for a social welfare payment due to the assessment of their means may be eligible to sign for social insurance contribution credits. Persons signing on for credits for 12 months or longer over the previous 18 months are entitled to participate on Momentum courses through Solas, provided that they have been actively seeking work, however they will not receive any payment. Persons signing for credits for six months or more are entitled to participate on ETB-run VTOS courses subject to availability. In the case of VTOS courses, participants do not receive a training allowance but may receive travel and lunch allowances. Springboard and Skillnets courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are also open to people regardless of their social welfare status.

In addition, the Qualified Adult Dependent of a person in receipt of one of the qualifying payments for BTEA purposes may be approved for BTEA provided they establish an entitlement to a BTEA qualifying payment in their own right and subject to satisfying all other BTEA conditions. Those in receipt of a number of other qualifying payments (including One-Parent Family Payment and Disability Allowance) may be approved for BTEA subject to satisfying all BTEA conditions.

Action 26.5 of the current Pathways to Work Strategy commits to examining the supports required to facilitate greater participation by people with disabilities, single parents, qualified adults and individuals in need of greater support in education and training. Having reviewed this action, the Department is satisfied at present that existing supports are sufficient but will continue to review the situation in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills and SOLAS.

The Government is committed to supporting as many people as possible to participate more fully in employment and to become more self-sufficient by providing supports that address barriers they may encounter in finding and sustaining employment.