John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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284. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she has received concerns from local development companies or other relevant organisations regarding a drop in referrals to Tús, community employment and local employment services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13260/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of activation supports and programmes catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers and those most distant from the labour market. These include activation supports such as Community Employment (CE), Tús and Local Employment Services (LES).

The Deputy will appreciate that the welcome reduction in the unemployment rate is a factor in recruitment to all programmes. There has been a 48% fall in the numbers on the Live Register who are more than 1 year unemployed in the five years since the end December 2012. Long-term unemployment is expected to fall further this year in line with the continuing forecasted fall in overall unemployment.

Schemes such as CE and Tús provide part-time temporary work in local communities, as a stepping-stone back to employment. However, it is important to note that these placements are not full-time sustainable jobs. Instead, they are designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness, thereby improving a person’s opportunities of returning to the labour market or getting a job for the first time.

Following the publication of my Department’s Report, An Analysis of the Community Employment Programme, in April 2017 the Government approved a number of changes to the terms and conditions around participation on CE. These changes were implemented from 3 July 2017. The main purpose of these changes was to broaden the availability of CE to a greater number of people who can take part - including reducing the entry age to 21 - giving a second opportunity to people who have already taken part, and securing the number of places at existing levels. Overall, these changes improve the way that CE operates and should allow access to more people who are long-term unemployed. If any scheme is experiencing particular recruitment difficulties, they should contact their local Intreo Centre for assistance.

Tús, the community work placement initiative introduced during 2011, was set up to provide short-term, work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year. This initiative is being delivered through the network of 47 local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Recent changes have also been implemented to the selection criteria for Tús which should broaden the numbers available for this scheme. This includes an increase in the percentage of assisted referrals from 20% to 30%, as well as permitting someone who has had a break of up to 30 days on the Live Register in the past 12 months to be considered eligible for Tús selection.

In 2018, the Department has contracted for the provision of LES in 26 locations with 22 contractors through a network of offices and outreach clinics. The funding and total value of these contracts for the provision of the services has been continually maintained over the years, both through periods of economic downturn and in more recent years where again we have seen a welcome reduction in the unemployment rate. The increased capacity provided through Intreo and JobPath and the reduction of the live register means the LES can now focus on offering an enhanced service to jobseekers. The number of new registrations with the LES rose from 16,704 in 2016 to 20,545 in 2017.

I will continue to keep this whole area under review so that these schemes provide real and valuable support to both individuals and communities.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.