Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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176. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the ending of the JobPath and Turas Nua schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29240/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Turas Nua and Seetec are currently contracted by the Department to provide employment services to Jobseekers who are long term unemployed.

As with all contracted Public Employment Services, these contracts are actively managed by the Department to ensure the contractors continue to provide jobseekers with access to high quality employment supports and services. The payment-by-results model used for both Turas Nua and Seetec ensures those contractors receive the majority of their fees when their clients secure sustained employment. Such a model means that while the contractors are contractually required to provide employment service supports to jobseekers their ability to recoup their costs is dependent on their clients securing sustained employment.

Any provision for contracted Public Employment Services in 2021 will be in the context of managing and responding to the labour market impacts of Covid-19. My Department will work to ensure there is sufficient capacity within the Public Employment Service to provide a high-quality service to help individuals back into employment.

In July, the Government announced that we would be investing an additional €43 million into the Public Employment Service to enhance this capacity. My Department is considering how to ensure that we have sufficient capacity in the Public Employment Service to ensure that we are in a position to provide the necessary supports and services to individuals who have lost employment arising from the labour market impacts of the pandemic.