James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection how many people availed of the Activation and Family Support Programme in 2022 to fund the cost of training supports and education courses for people on social welfare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46412/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department's Activation and Family Support Programme provides funding to assist local organisations and agencies implement training and education initiatives to address the needs of recipients of welfare payments and their families who are distant from the labour market.

The Activation and Family Support Programme provided funding to 10 organisations in 2022 which provided training to over 170 participants. Expenditure on the scheme in 2022 was €222,000.

I trust this clarifies the matter.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Wage Subsidy Scheme is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employment of people with disabilities in the open labour market.

There are currently 1,507 employers on the scheme in respect of some 2,432 participant employees. Estimated expenditure on the Wage Subsidy Scheme in 2023 is €24 million.

To claim a subsidy under the scheme, the private sector employer must offer employment to a person with a disability for at least 21 hours per week and up to 39 hours per week. The contract of employment must be for a minimum of 6 months and the employee should be subject to and have the same conditions of employment as any of the employer's other employees.

The Programme for Government commits to fine-tuning and expanding targeted employment schemes, such as the Wage Subsidy Scheme, to help more people with disabilities stay in the workforce.

As part of Budget 2022, I increased the rate of the Wage Subsidy Scheme paid to employers, from €5.30 to €6.30 per hour. This gives a total annual subsidy available of €12,776 based on a 39-hour week.

My department is currently undertaking a review of the Scheme, as part of its commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy. As part of this review a public consultation exercise was recently undertaken which invited people with disabilities, employers and the general public to share their views on the Scheme.

My officials are currently compiling the analysis from the consultation and working on completing the report and I expect the final report over the coming months. In the meantime, In anticipation of recommendations in the review, I have made provision in Budget 2024 to decrease the minimum hours from 21 to 15.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.