Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the new local employment schemes contract will cater for walk-ins; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48612/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is currently at an advanced stage in its first phase of procuring new employment services. This involves the procurement of regional employment services for seven counties in the Midlands and North-West across four lots. These counties have no existing local employment service and represent the first phase of an expansion of employment services.

Phase two of the process was to have seen service in place by January 2022. This has now been temporarily postponed giving potential tenderers additional time to prepare collaborative joint bids. Learnings from the first phase will be applied to subsequent Requests for Tenders that will see the expansion of this model throughout the rest of the State. This is a significant expansion of employment services and will result in State-wide coverage of employment services for those furthest from the labour market for the first time.

Under the RFT for the Regional Employment Service, the Department will be able to refer long term jobseekers to the new services as well as other cohorts on a voluntary basis such as lone parents and qualified adults. All referrals will be managed by the Department’s Intreo offices and they will determine the best employment service for an individual based on their specific circumstances and requirements. In many cases the supports to individuals will be delivered through the Department’s Intreo offices or they may be referred to the new Regional Employment Service.

If an individual is not in receipt of a social welfare payment, they should contact their local Intreo office who will offer them support and advice and may refer them to the Regional Employment Service, as appropriate. The focus will be on getting the right people the right resources at the right time.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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61. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the changes she is considering to the work schemes under the Pathways to Work initiative given the abuses of same by employers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48663/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the new Work Placement Experience Programme (WPEP). WPEP is a key policy initiative under the Government's new national employment services strategy; Pathways to Work 2021-2025. It is a funded work placement scheme to provide work experience for 10,000 jobseekers who have been unemployed for more than six months, including time spent on the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP). Participation on WPEP is entirely voluntary. All participants are paid €306 per week plus any social welfare increases for qualified adults and children. The intention is to provide quality and valuable work experience to unemployed persons. Work placements are recognised internationally as being effective in assisting jobseekers find new jobs. The Labour Market Advisory Council also recommended the inclusion of a new work placement programme as one of the active labour market measures to be included in the Pathways to Work Strategy.

All host organisations and individual placements are checked for compliance and quality assurance purposes prior to being advertised on the Department’s recruitment website; jobsIreland.ie. A placement is not approved or published if the placement does not meet the stringent criteria set for the new programme.

During the programme host organisations must complete monthly compliance checklists for all placements and return the completed checklists to my Department. My Department will also undertake two monitoring meetings to ensure that the terms and conditions of the programme are being fulfilled. Any complaints received relating to participation on the WPEP will be investigated in full by the Department’s case officer as part of the ongoing monitoring of the programme and the individual placement.

Since the programme was launched in the middle of July these arrangements have been working very well for the benefit of unemployed persons gaining valuable work experience which have been demonstrated to improve their long term employment prospects. These will be kept under review.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.