Matt Brennan
Question:13 Mr. M. Brennan asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will review the clause, that to qualify for the student summer job scheme a student must be means tested, and allow all third level students participate. [7190/96]
Written Answers. - Student Summer Jobs Scheme.
Helen Keogh
Question:20 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will make available details of the various student summer job schemes that he proposes to have on stream in 1996. [7222/96]
Patrick J. Morley
Question:31 Mr. Morley asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to rescind the rules of the students summer job scheme which bar post-leaving certificate students from taking part in this scheme. [7197/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 20 and 31 together.
The students' summer jobs scheme was a major success last year and has proved to be of significant benefit both to the local communities and to the students themselves.
The underlying purpose of the scheme which was introduced in 1993, is to provide an alternative source of income for the less well off third level students who are disqualified from receiving unemployment assistance.
In order to qualify for the scheme, third level students must also satisfy a means test which is broadly similar to that which is applied for entitlement to unemployment assistance.
Students who retain a right to unemployment assistance during the summer period, such as mature students and those PLC students who have completed their courses, are not deprived of income and are not therefore eligible for the students' summer job scheme.
Many complimentary letters were received praising both the scheme and the quality of work carried out by the students. Just under 19,000 students were approved to work under the 1995 scheme and over 15,800 worked. The focus of the scheme is on the less well off students and therefore I do not intend to alter the requirement that they satisfy a means test as the levels of participation do not justify such a change. Some 84 per cent of the students who applied for the 1995 scheme were approved to participate. Post leaving certificate (PLC) students are, in general, not eligible for the scheme as the vast majority of them will have their courses completed this summer and are entitled to claim unemployment assistance during the summer period if they fail to obtain employment. However, a small proportion of PLC students may be disqualified from unemployment assistance. These are students who have not completed their courses and it is not my intention that any of these who satisfy the normal means test would be excluded from this year's scheme. On the basis of available information, it is estimated that a few hundred PLC students will participate in the 1996 scheme. Over 3,330 sponsors registered in last year's scheme offering 21,761 jobs which covered a huge range of activities. A mailshot inviting applications has recently been issued to these sponsors and it is expected that the jobs available this year will be broadly similar to the wide range of opportunities offered in previous years.