asked the Minister for Social Welfare the total number of claimants who left the live register voluntarily after being offered a job, course or scheme under the Jobsearch programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Jobsearch Programme.
1.
Claimants invited to participate in the Jobsearch programme and who leave the live register voluntarily do so at various stages. Some leave after they are called to the interview but before they are interviewed by FÁS while others leave subsequently. The purpose of the interview is to assess the claimant's skills, to advise, and to offer a placement in a job or in a scheme or course under the programme.
In 1987 a total of 12,724 left the live register following an invitation to participate in the programme. Up to mid-June this year a further 11,265 persons, who had been invited to avail of assistance under the programme, have left the register.
Given that just under 24,000 people have now left the register voluntarily, have the Department any details as to the length of time these people were on the live register and the reason they might have voluntarily left?
We are having an extension of the question here.
There is not detailed information on individuals. The people interviewed particularly in the first six months or so were long-term unemployed. The scheme generally operates for those unemployed for over six months, so it relates to long-term unemployed people. Some people have been on the register for two or three years. There is no detailed analysis to give the Deputy the information she seeks at this stage.
Can the Minister say how many of these people might have been otherwise working and can he say what the estimated savings will be, from the drop-out of these people from the live register?
The savings estimated included in the Estimates this year amount to £10 million. That would be from the people who either leave voluntarily or who are disallowed. Up to this stage this year the number of people disallowed is 707. There is a somewhat similar pattern to last year in relation to the number actually disallowed. The total cumulative savings to date this year are £5.2 million and the target for this year in the Estimates is £10 million. There is no doubt that the target will be exceeded this year.
Has an analysis been done of the 24,000 people who have left the register? Can the Minister give any indication as to what percentage of that 24,000 are suspected of having been claiming unemployment payments when they were not unemployed? Are there any plans to prosecute people who are falsely claiming and thereby robbing the poor of badly needed resources?
The programme was implemented to provide options for people on the register so the information in this programme would be on the people who have taken up courses, long-term programmes and so on. The people who leave are not surveyed and Deputies will have their own ideas as to why most of them would have left. It is a fact that people were drawing benefit over long periods up to the time when they were offered either a job or a training course or a programme.
Will the Minister agree that the 24,000 people who have left the register, combined with the outflow of people through emigration, shows that the underlying problem of unemployment is increasing, having regard to the fact that the unemployment figures are only 10,000 less than they were at this stage last year? Would the Minister speculate on the unemployment figure if we had not emigration and the Jobsearch programme?
The register is now more realistic in that people genuinely seeking work are on the register and others have left. Approximately 22 per cent of the people who left have returned to the register.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Sorry, Deputy Harney I want to proceed to deal with some other questions. There are a large number of questions to the Minister today and I want to make some appreciable progress. Question No. 2, please.
The costings of course are related only to the periods when people are off the register, as the Deputies will appreciate.