Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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147. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will report on the progress made by her Department on the European Council recommendation, A Bridge to Jobs, Reinforcing the Youth Guarantee dated 30 October 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25551/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Council of the European Union believed it was important to reinforce the existing Youth Guarantee to aid in alleviating the labour market impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on young people.  This aim is complementary to our objectives in Government.  As Minister for Social Protection, I welcome the Council recommendation on a reinforced Youth Guarantee.

Central to the reinforced programme is the extension of the widening of the youth age bracket to include young people aged 25-29.  As part of activation services provided by my Department via Intreo, young people under 25 receive the most intensive engagement. 

My Department intend to extend this up to age 29, as per the new reinforced Youth Guarantee, and are currently exploring the necessary system changes to allow for this to be put in place.

Under the July Jobs Stimulus, my Department, along with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, are putting in place the following measures, which complement the aims of the new reinforced Youth Guarantee:

Increasing the benefit of the JobsPlus recruitment subsidy to employers who hire youngpeople, by expanding the young person rate from under 25 to under 30 yearsof age.  Under this scheme an employer receives the JobsPlus subsidy of€7,500 once they employ a young person who has been unemployed for just 4months.  A higher subsidy of €10,000 is paid for recruitment of a personwho was long term unemployed (over 12 months).

Providing access to additional full-time and part-time education, including targetedshort-term courses, with over 35,000 new education and training places forthose currently unemployed.

Providing incentives to employers to take on more apprentices, with the provision ofa grant of €3,000 to employers for each new apprentice recruited.

Facilitating access to the Back to Education Allowance and Back to Work EnterpriseAllowance to those displaced by the pandemic and in receipt of PUP, bywaiving the usual qualifying period of 3-9 months.

A core element of the reinforced Youth Guarantee is to support young people in gaining valuable work experience and developing the right skills for a changing world of work.  My Department is at an advanced stage in developing a new Work Placement Experience Programme for those out of work for at least six months, regardless of age.  This programme will seek to encourage businesses provide jobseekers with the necessary workplace skills to compete in the labour market and to help break the vicious circle of “no job without experience, no experience without a job”.  I expect to launch the Programme in the near future.

In addition, the reinforced Youth Guarantee notes the value in supporting apprenticeships as a means of training young people and providing stable labour market integration.  Last month my colleague, Minister Harris, launched the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025.  The Action Plan sets out a five-year strategy to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment of reaching 10,000 new apprentice registrations per year by 2025.  The plan provides a roadmap to a single apprenticeship system and new supports for employers and apprentices, which will prove attractive for many young people.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.