Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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408. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if persons with Down's syndrome are eligible to use the EmployAbility service. [41877/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The EmployAbility Service is service is open to all persons with a disability who are considered job ready and need the support of a Job Coach to secure employment in the labour market. The participant must be registered with my Department and be referred to, and engage with, the EmployAbility Service.

A person may be considered to be job ready, if they are “a person who has the necessary training, education, motivation and ability to pursue work/career in the open labour market and if needed have access to transport to get to and from work”.

The EmployAbility Services deal with the full range and extent of disabilities subject to job readiness. The focus of the Job Coach is on the person's ability to obtain and sustain employment in an open market environment.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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409. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if audits are conducted annually for each EmployAbility service; if an audit has been conducted for each service annually for each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41878/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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410. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost per placement for each jobseeker successfully placed in employment by the EmployAbility service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41879/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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411. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the breakdown of funding for each EmployAbility service; and the funding of the programme nationally. [41880/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 409 to 411, inclusive, together.

EmployAbility Services, as contracted by my Department, provide support to people with disabilities to secure and maintain paid employment in the open labour market leading to independence and career progression.

My Department continuously monitors each service locally using a system of monthly control checks covering the financial and performance elements of the contract.  In addition, the contractor submits audited accounts each year and the annual contract process includes an evaluation of the financial and operational performance of the service in advance of awarding a new contract.

Employability Service providers are paid on a 'costs met' basis for service provision rather than on performance outcomes. The Department cannot accurately quantify a cost per placement but on average, the indicative cost of customer engagement is approx. €2,800 per client. Engagement with the Employability Service can last up to 18 months and customers can exit the service at any point along the way. 

 The EmployAbility Service is delivered under a contract arrangement with individual service providers on behalf of my Department. There are currently 24 EmployAbility contracts in place and the combined value of the contracts entered into is €9.9m in 2020. The costs of the individual contracts relates to the contracted capacity of each service and the costs of same.

The budget for each service provider is stipulated in the contract.  The amount involved, however, having been separately negotiated with each contractor, is commercially sensitive. I can advise the Deputy that the average contract value is approximately €420,000 per annum.

I hope this clarifies the matters for the Deputy.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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412. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number jobseekers registered with the EmployAbility programme in each of the past five years. [41881/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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413. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of jobseekers who exited the EmployAbility programme without having secured employment in each of the past five years. [41882/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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414. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of jobseekers who exited the EmployAbility programme after 18 months or more without having secured employment in each of the past five years. [41883/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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415. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of the total jobseekers with EmployAbility currently in employment having secured employment through the programme under the wage subsidy scheme. [41884/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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416. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the percentage of jobseekers registered with EmployAbility who secured employment of less than ten hours per week and between ten and 20 hours per week, respectively, through the programme in each of the past five years. [41885/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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417. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department has conducted research to determine the percentage of jobseekers who had gained employment through EmployAbility that were still in employment six months or more after exiting the programme. [41886/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 to 417, inclusive, together.

The Employability Service provides support and advice to people with disabilities with a view to them securing employment.  

The number of customers referred by my Department to the EmployAbility Services in each of the past five years is as follows:

The below table depicts the number of individuals that exited the programme without having secured employment in each of the past five years is as follows:

The numbers of clients who exited the service following the completion of 18 months into other relevant non-open market employment outcomes for the last 5 years as follows: 

My Department provides a range of services to support the employment of people with disabilities.  One such service available is the Wage Subsidy Scheme.  This scheme provides financial assistance for private sector employers to encourage them to employ people with disabilities.

Of the total number of Employability Service clients who secured open market employment in 2020, approximately 39% were employed by employers availing of the Wage Subsidy Scheme.

It is intended that the majority of EmployAbility clients will have working hours that are the norm within that industry or sector.  It is a service requirement that they will be working towards a minimum of 8 hours a week.

The EmployAbility Service started to record the categories of part-time and full-time work from 2017.  Previously all job placements were counted as employments.  Part-time work is defined as less than 20 hours and full-work is defined as greater than 20 hours.

My Department commissioned a major review of the Employability Service in 2016.  The Indecon Report stated that just over 25% of clients retained employment after 6 months without the support of the service.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.