asked the Minister for the Public Service the number of young people already employed under the temporary clerical trainee scheme within the Civil Service and the kind of work they are undertaking.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Temporary Clerical Trainee Scheme.
15.
To date some 750 temporary clerical trainees have been appointed. It is expected that by the end of the month a total of 950 trainees will have been appointed. The remaining 50 traineeships which are reserved for disabled persons will be filled early in 1986. All trainees will be engaged on a wide variety of office work of a clerical nature as part of their ongoing training.
Will the Minister confirm or deny that there is an arrangement at departmental level that those employed under this temporary training scheme cannot undertake functions or duties that would normally be a matter for civil servants whose posts are frozen due to the embargo?
No Civil Service post is frozen by way of the embargo. Posts frozen relate to people who have left the service.
Obviously there is some truth in what I have said because the Minister is avoiding my question. In a number of Departments where those people have taken up duty the duties assigned to them are outside of the usual grades such as CA, CO, EO, HEO, staff officer, assistant principal, principal officer, assistant secretary or secretary. I understand that the trainees cannot perform the duties of any of those officers and I want the Minister to confirm or deny that.
Is the Deputy seriously suggesting that some of these trainees ought to take on the duties normally performed by the secretaries of Departments?
I did not say that. The Minister should answer my question.
What may concern the Deputy about the trainees who are in the 17 to 19 age group is that the staff side, perhaps, were not fully aware initially that the recruitment of the trainees would not interfere with fillable vacancies, not unfillable vacancies. In discussions with the staff side we have made it clear that existing fillable vacancies will still be filled in the normal way. The trainees are carrying out a range of functions in the course of their training in various Departments and there are no restrictions such as the Deputy outlined, to my knowledge.
I asked the Minister to outline the type of work they are undertaking. Is the Minister saying that such staff can be engaged in work similar to that of a clerical officer or a clerical assistant of a similar age?
The work they will carry out will be work that is deemed appropriate to their role as trainees. They are not analagous to any particular grade and it would be confusing the issue entirely if I was to suggest that they were. The purpose of the scheme is to give them on-the-job training. The disciplines of clerical work generally will be inculcated in them. I am referring to disciplines such as accuracy, punctuality and higher output. That will be preceded by a short induction training period and later in the year there will be some further formal off-the-job training which will not, however, be extensive. The important thing is that the trainees are to get an opportunity to learn how to do work by doing it.
Also, as I undertook at the outset when this scheme was announced, they will be given experience of more than one type of work during the course of the year. All in all, it would be a very important year's experience for many young people. As we all know, very often the problem facing them is that, while they may have a good academic record or appear to perform a good interview, potential employers say they are not inclined to employ them because they have no experience. At the end of this year's experience the best part of 1,000 young people will have been given a quite extensive range of experience in clerical duties in the Civil Service. That will be of great benefit to them in seeking employment afterwards, as well as the fact that a number of the trainees will be given an opportunity to compete in the autumn of next year for permanent position within the Civil Service.