Vol. 505 No. 7
7 Mr. Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny) asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of positions approved under the student summer jobs scheme; the number availed of by students; and the plans, if any, he has to widen the scope of the scheme. [14327/99]
As advertised last April, the student summer jobs scheme will operate from 1 June 1999 to 31 August 1999 during which approved students will be allowed undertake 200 hours work at £3 per hour. It is estimated that about 11,000 students will participate in the 1999 scheme. The closing date for the receipt of applications is 25 June 1999. To date, 10,200 students have applied of whom 5,000 have been approved to participate in the scheme.
The student summer jobs scheme was introduced in 1993 and was intended to assist students who were not entitled to claim unemployment assistance during the summer holiday period and who were unable to get a summer job. The fact that, in recent years, there has been a wider availability of jobs in other areas has brought about a lower level of recourse to the scheme. It is clearly more beneficial for students to obtain employment in the open market and I hope to see further evidence of this trend in 1999. The future development of the student scheme will depend on the experience in the current year and the needs identified in light of that experience.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): The Minister did not give figures for last year which I presumed he would. Am I correct in saying he is forecasting figures for this year?
Yes.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): What about last year? The Minister could supply those figures.
In 1998, 13,600 students participated in the scheme, 4,570 sponsors registered, and there were 29,000 jobs. The scheme cost about £8 million in 1998.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): How many positions were not filled?
Sponsors said they had 29,000 jobs. That is what they would say but that figure would not necessarily materialise ultimately.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): I asked for specific information. While the scheme is good for those who can avail of it, it is most divisive for parents over the maintenance grant threshold who suffer a double whammy as their children are unable to take up jobs which are not being filled. I know of one case in which only three out of ten positions were filled and several parents were irate that their children could not take up these summer jobs.
Does the Minster agree this is inequitable? Many parents are just over the income threshold. One often hears it said that children of millionaires would get summer jobs under the scheme, but most of these people are not millionaires. Will the Minister consider reviewing the scheme to include students who are available to work and who do not want to go abroad?
This scheme was introduced in 1993—
The Dirty Dozen.
—when there were difficulties regarding students in receipt of unemployment assistance continuing to claim UA after they went back to college. The summer jobs scheme was introduced to alleviate this problem from the taxpayers' point of view and to provide dedicated assistance to students during the summer months.
The scheme was geared towards those students who would normally qualify for UA for which there is a basic means test. The scheme did not allow those over the guidelines for grants to apply. Students must satisfy a weekly means test which is assessed at £65 or less – a low rate. That has always been the way. This scheme is designed to help students from less well off families, not those from families who would be able to assist their children by way of grants or whatever.
There has been a significant drop in the number of sponsors and students applying for the scheme. Last year many sponsors had great difficulty filling positions because of the lack of students applying for these jobs.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): The Minister referred to students who receive grants. The problem arises for parents of students who are not entitled to grants and who, in many cases, are barely over the income threshold.
They are on an even higher plain.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): These parents are paying maintenance for students but all students have to survive on the same basis. Why tell parents who have difficulty paying for their children in college that they must send their sons or daughters to England or America to get summer jobs when there are jobs available here? Surely it would make sense to pay these young students to stay and work in Ireland and treat them in the same manner as students who are on grants.
The scheme was designed to help less well off students who could not qualify for unemployment assistance during the summer months because they were not available for work. Ultimately, that is the deciding factor in whether people qualify. If the scheme were to be extended to all students, the State would, in effect, fund students to work over the summer months.
There is plenty of work available, particularly for students in the summer. In fact, the students who qualify for this scheme under the means test are working extra hours during the summer and topping up the payments they receive on the scheme.
That concludes priority questions. I remind Deputies that even stricter time limits apply to ordinary questions – two minutes for the Minister's initial reply and one minute for each supplementary question and answer. There is an overall limit of six minutes for each question.
