Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department, through its Intreo service and together with its service partners, is constantly engaged in work to help jobseekers prepare for and secure employment. We do this through one-on-one case officer supports, through developing and funding employment and training programmes, through providing recruitment services such as JobsIeland.ie to employers, through offering recruitment subsidies targeted at people at most disadvantage and through working closely with our colleagues in the further education and training sector.

Much of this is below the radar but it is vitally important and has been shown to be very effective. I am very pleased that the CSO's Monthly April Unemployment release finds that the monthly unemployment rate and the youth unemployment rate have fallen significantly over the last twelve months and now stand at 4.8 percent and 5.6 percent respectively. As of this week there are 174,200 people on the Live Register, which is lower than the pre-pandemic level.

It is most welcome that the Live Register is lower than pre-pandemic levels following the unwinding of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment at the end of March. This can be understood in the context of a labour market that is performing extremely well and I'm particularly pleased to see significant increases in the participation rate for women.

The Pathways to Work strategy, to which the Deputy refers, has the aims of supporting both those who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and those who were already disadvantaged in accessing the labour market prior to the pandemic. It provides for a coherent response across five strands of action with 83 specific commitments. Broadly speaking, some key areas of focus include:

- Working with jobseekers through increasing case officer capacity. In this regard we have appointed an additional 100 job coaches in the Department and are currently engaged in a process to procure external case officer capacity. Our own case officers and job coaches are currently heavily engaged in supporting people recently arrived from Ukraine.

- Working with employers, both directly one-on-one and through hosting job fairs in Ireland and with the European Public Employment Services. For example, we have a particular focus on supporting construction sector employers through the recently launched Future Building Ireland programme. Over the next week we will be running over 40 events nationwide, including a major event in Tallaght Stadium, to connect jobseekers with employers and opportunities in the construction sector.

- Reforming our system of income support payments. This includes initiatives that have been progressed by my colleagues in relation to the development of statutory sick pay and the basic income for artists pilot, and steps I have taken to enable people retain welfare payments while pursing higher level programmes of education.

These are just some examples. In order to make sure that we continue to make progress in delivering on the Pathways strategy, I have asked the Labour Market Advisory Council to report to me later this year with their views on the progress being made in the implementation of these commitments.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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87. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of phase 2 of the procurement process for the new local area employment service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24520/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is currently undertaking a significant expansion of public employment services. In particular, specialised employment services for those farthest from the labour market - previously available in just twelve counties - will soon be available State-wide for the first time.

In the first phase of this procurement, contracts for Intreo Partners - Local Area Employment Services (LAES) were agreed in late 2021 across four lots in seven counties in the Midlands and North-East. These new services are now operational and accepting referrals.

Phase two of this process is currently ongoing. The procurement of phase 2 of the Intreo Partners Local Area Employment Services commenced with the publication of the request for tender on 21 December last. Phase 2 took on board learnings from the limited procurement in phase 1 including for example a substantial increase in guaranteed annual referral numbers, enhanced requirements for social and community links and an increase in the number of lots.

This procurement was preceded by extensive consultation with all stakeholders, including the community sector providers and their representative body the ILDN. Every existing provider was visited on site by my officials and asked for their views on the way forward for the best provision of employment services, there has also been engagement with the staff representative bodies. In addition, the external consultants engaged by the Department to assist in the restructuring of these services also, and separately from the Department, consulted with existing providers.

My Department extended the deadline for the Requests for Tenders to 25 April to ensure all interested parties, including the community sector, had sufficient time to prepare quality tender responses that reflect their experience and capacity to deliver a quality service. I understand that tenders have been received and that an evaluation process is ongoing.

I am not and cannot be directly involved in or briefed on the identity of the bidders or the status of the evaluation process.