Ruth Coppinger
Question:6. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the progress made in the implementation of the JobPath scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1203/16]
Other Questions
JobPath Implementation
The question asks how JobPath, another of the so-called labour activation measures that have become the stock in trade of the Government, is progressing. Under this scheme, work done previously by FÁS is being outsourced to two large multinational companies, which will bully and harass people on the dole to ensure they accept work of any kind. The companies to which the Department awarded the contracts have a very poor track record in the United Kingdom.
JobPath is a new approach to employment activation to support long-term unemployed people and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain paid employment. Two companies, Turas Nua and Seetec, have been contracted by the Department to deliver JobPath services.
The roll-out of JobPath began last July on a soft launch basis in Bray and Longford. At the end of 2015, in excess of 7,500 jobseekers from 41 of the Department's Intreo centres and local offices had been referred to JobPath. It is expected that the roll-out of the scheme to the remaining locations will be undertaken by the end of March.
Jobseekers who are selected for JobPath are invited to attend an initial information session, jointly hosted by the Department and the JobPath company, at which the jobseekers’ rights and responsibilities are explained. Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and find jobs. Each person is assigned a personal adviser who assesses their skills, experience, challenges and work goals and agrees a personal progression plan that includes a schedule of activities, actions and job focused targets. Participants are provided with a range of development supports and may also be referred for further education and training opportunities. They will spend a year on JobPath and if placed into a job, they will continue to receive support for at least three months and up to 12 months while in employment.
It is unbelievable that the Labour Party has privatised and outsourced a function that was being carried out by FÁS. The reason given for doing so is that a recruitment embargo has been in place in recent years. It is laughable that the Department charged with creating employment cannot create jobs in the public sector.
The companies to which the Department awarded the contracts, Turas Nua and Seetec, have been involved in scandals in the United Kingdom where they defrauded the government. They were found to have made fraudulent claims that they were unable to back up. An investigation found that 30% of the claims submitted could not be verified and at least 10% were false. Nevertheless, the Government has awarded contracts to these companies.
The second problem I have with JobPath is that it puts a price on the heads of unemployed people. The companies in question are only interested in profit and their profits increase every time they have someone removed from the dole. There is nothing about the types of jobs they create. This is very poor form on the part of the Labour Party.
What we are doing is very different from what was done in the United Kingdom and, as such, it is wrong to make comparisons. The baseline measurements, for example, are completely different. Further, one of the companies involved is a not-for-profit entity.
I visited the two pilot projects in Bray and Longford.
I made it my business to not only meet the staff working there, who were assisting and helping to prepare personal progression plans, but also to meet the people who have access to the facility in that regard. This reminds me of the type of attack first put together in respect of Tús, which has been remarkably successful. Then, I was lobbied heavily, including by Members of the Opposition, to extend Tús to be self-referring. I expanded it to 20%.
We have had an unemployment crisis. We had over 15% of people unemployed. Thankfully, we are now down to 8.8%. As we move out of recession and into recovery I want to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to share in that recovery as well as the opportunity to work with people to ensure they can get the skills and access the opportunities that are now coming into the economy. I am very keen for that to take place.
It is very strange that the Government would award this to companies that were under investigation in the United Kingdom. There was no investigation until whistleblowers came forward from within those companies to back up the stories of disabled and unemployed people who were knocked off the dole and forced into jobs that they could not do. There have been countless cases in Britain of disabled people who were assessed by similar companies. They were considered to be not trying or not looking hard enough and had penalties applied to their dole. Basically, the scheme is compulsory.
These companies get paid a referral fee for each person they get taken on. However, there is no quality control in terms of the type of work that people are being allocated or the amount of travel involved for the person in taking that job. There is no minimum age mechanism and such like.
The mantra of this Government is that the best way out of poverty is a job but the best way out of poverty is no longer a job, not with the type of jobs the Government is creating. We have now become the second highest ranking country for low pay. Many of the jobs are impossible for people to survive on. The Government has demeaned and made more undignified the whole concept of work with these schemes by forcing people, young people in particular, to take up work for free or for €50 per month. That is the mantra and the lesson of this Government.
Deputy Coppinger has her own mantra. If we look at the figures we can see that the vast majority of people who are moving back into employment are moving from part-time to full-time work. The vast majority of people moving into employment are moving into well-paid jobs, not jobs at minimum pay.
I know the Deputy always wants to find the worst in everything. However, I put it to her that this is not a UK scheme. This is designed to operate in Ireland to an Irish model. Everything is paid on the basis of performance but there is also an engagement with our clients to ensure satisfaction is received from the clients. Deputy Coppinger spoke at length about the disabled and disability but that does not apply in this case
Not yet.
Deputy Coppinger spent a good deal of time referring to it but it does not apply. The Deputy is criticising what I believe is a good initiative to assist long-term unemployed people who lost their jobs at the beginning of the recession or who came out of college or school and were unfortunate not to get employment. Now, there will be a support service that will assist, help to build people's confidence and work with them to get back into employment.
The idea that we should not help people back into work is wrong.
Thank you. I have to move on to the next question.
I want to ensure this works. I will work hard to ensure that as many of the people I represent as possible have an opportunity to share in the recovery by going out to work.
I do not know why the Tánaiste is not answering the questions. She is whispering everything into the ear of the Minister of State.
I have no control over that.
She is choosing not to answer
Employment Support Services
Seán Kyne
Question:7. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to report on the operation of Intreo by her Department since its introduction and the level of engagement between her Department, other Departments and State agencies in terms of ensuring availability of access to appropriate training and educational courses for jobseekers, particularly in the sectors for which there is a significant demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1208/16]
The question relates to the operation of the Intreo offices by the Department and the level of engagement between the Department and other Departments and State agencies in respect of education and training.
The Department launched Intreo in 2012 to provide a new integrated public employment service whereby people looking for work can access income support and employment services.
This involved the merger of community welfare services, Department of Social Protection jobseeker income support services and the former FÁS employment and community services divisions. As part of this service integration, the Department located service provision for all of these services in new or refurbished Intreo centres, providing a much improved customer service environment. I recall that the Deputy attended the launch of the Intreo office in Galway. It is a very fine office and gives people the respect, dignity and space they deserve. It also successfully developed and implemented a range of new service processes, including profiling of jobseekers, group information sessions and case management, and, in parallel, established a new employer relations division. This division works with employers to encourage them to recruit staff from the live register.
When opening the new Balbriggan office last week, I was very pleased to hear that a number of employers in Dublin Airport are now using the services of the Intreo offices in Balbriggan and Swords to source additional employees. This is central to the service Intreo is designed to provide and has contributed to a significant increase in employment in recent years. There are a number of measures for jobseekers, such as JobBridge, JobsPlus, TÚS, Gateway and the back to work family dividend, which was introduced last year, all of which have contributed to a reduction of about 40% in the unemployment rate since 2012. The impact of all these changes is also seen in the much improved service processing times, the early and more frequent engagement of jobseekers in the activation process and the high levels of customer satisfaction reported through an independent customer survey.
I thank the Minister. We will come back to her.
I thank the Minister for her reply. Intreo offices have been a success story of the Government. They were part of the programme for Government and discussed for decades. Thankfully, the Government has established a very valuable service. It is regrettable that this was not done when more money was available in different times.
As the Minister said, the recent jobs figures indicate the success of the job creation initiatives from her Department and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. I refer to the level of engagement that has taken place with regard to provision of education and training services to match job vacancies. I welcome the improved engagement with employers. How much engagement does the Department have with employers? Is it skewed towards one area or another?
I would be grateful if the Deputy passed on information to employers in his constituency, Galway West. We welcome contact from employers who are seeking employees. We now have an employer service, which comprises a series of staff dedicated specifically to contacting employers when they are recruiting. We want to ensure that people who are unemployed have a chance to pitch for those jobs and, it is to be hoped, get them. There are many different examples of that.
If an employer comes to us or we make contact with an employer, we will, for instance, consider the kind of candidate it wants, taking into account age, background and other information. We will consider, in particular, educational qualifications and whether a candidate has any previous work experience. If a new employer coming to an area wants to employ ten or 20 people, we will undertake, together with local education and training boards, the training of potential staff. The employer can then offer such people employment.
We launched the new Intreo pathways programme today. Employers, such as those based at the airport, are now using Intreo services to recruit in areas such as Sligo, where JenaValve Technology worked with St. Angela's College and the Sligo Intreo office to develop a particular course in technology relating to medical devices. Subsequently, all of the people from the course were successfully employed.
I certainly welcome the initiatives on engagement with employers. The Intreo offices have a great role in client profiling and one-to-one consultation with case officers. What is the role of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland or Údarás na Gaeltachta with regard to the Intreo offices, profiling the jobs they have or engaging with interested participants?
We have seen much job recovery in big cities and towns and we want to spread it out to the entire country. In this respect, IDA officials and Enterprise Ireland officers deal with local Irish companies on a county by county basis and in the regions. They can deal with companies and look at Irish people who may have ideas for new enterprises. Where there is a training requirement, and I gave an example with regard to Sligo and I can give other examples also, if we are told about it we will set out to work with whoever is the appropriate education provider. We took in the old FÁS employment services. We have the new education and training boards, colleges and institutes of technology, and in Sligo we have had very successful co-operation with St. Angela's College. We are prepared to be open to what will most help the employer and local unemployed people get matched and get work.
JobPath Implementation
Seán Kyne
Question:8. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection to report on the operation of the JobPath scheme, including the number of participants in counties Galway and Mayo and nationally; the number of persons who have found employment through the service; the level of monitoring by her of the service; and if additional supports are available to jobseekers as they undergo the transition back to work. [1210/16]
This relates to the operation of the JobPath scheme, including the number of participants in counties Galway and Mayo and nationally, and the number of persons who have found employment through the service.
I wish Deputy Kyne a happy new year. It is very unusual for a Government backbencher to have two priority questions, so he should invest in a national lottery ticket tonight.
JobPath is a new approach to employment activation to support long-term unemployed people and those most at risk of becoming long-term unemployed to secure and sustain employment. Two companies, Turas Nua and Seetec, have been contracted by the Department to deliver JobPath services. The roll-out of JobPath began last July on a soft launch basis and, as I stated earlier, the two pilots were in Bray and Longford. At the end of 2015, in excess of 7,500 jobseekers from 41 of the Department’s Intreo centres and local offices had been referred to JobPath. Of the 7,500 jobseekers referred, 1,000 were from the Galway and Mayo area. The JobPath companies have a year to work with each jobseeker in order to secure employment. As the service is in the roll-out phase and as no participant has completed the JobPath programme, there are as yet no meaningful statistics available on employment outcomes.
The JobPath companies will be subject to regular on-site inspections and audits to ensure that JobPath is delivered in accordance with contractual obligations. The Department will also commission customer satisfaction surveys to independently assess if customers are satisfied with the level and quality of service delivered by the contractors. Failure by the contractors to satisfy the Department’s inspectors or to achieve a satisfactory score in the independent survey will result in payment penalties being applied.
Participants on JobPath receive intensive individual support to help them address barriers to employment and to find jobs. Each person is assigned a personal adviser, who assesses the person's skills, experience, challenges and work goals and agrees a personal progression plan that includes a schedule of activities, actions and job-focused targets. Participants are provided with a range of development supports and may also be referred for further education and training opportunities.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. When I raised this previously in September it was stated that 200 people were referred in Galway, so there has been a huge increase, with 1,000 people in the Galway and Mayo area referred to an initiative which has only been in operation since July.
I welcome the progress that has been made. Will the Minister of State explain how the selection process for the scheme works? Is it random or is it targeted according to certain criteria?
The Minister of State referred to customer satisfaction. In regard to the service level agreement with Seetec, in the case of Galway, how is the Department ensuring JobPath is effective? Will he indicate what performance criteria apply in that regard?
The first criterion that applies in respect of eligibility for JobPath is that the applicant must be long-term unemployed, that is, more than one year out of work. Selection is random, the objective being to ensure there is no cherry-picking of candidates. There must be equality of opportunity for everybody. Since being rolled out in Galway, the scheme has also gone live in Achill, Ballina, Belmullet, Castlebar, Loughrea and Westport.
In respect of the assessment, especially the early assessment element, it is vital there be a customer satisfaction interaction. However, there simply are not the resources within the Department to give everybody that level of service. We want to ensure people who are long-term unemployed get the best possible supports to help them to access work. We cannot just look at this particular service in isolation. A number of targets have seen set across Government to assist persons who have been out of work long term. These are the people who, in the past, were always the last to receive the benefit of a recovery. We want them to share in the current recovery by accessing the opportunities for work that are coming on stream across the country.
The Minister of State indicated that selection for the scheme is on a random basis, with no cherry-picking of candidates. Does he agree that in certain instances, it might be advantageous to prioritise people who are very well suited to a particular job or training initiative? Might such prioritisation be considered in a percentage of cases?
The Minister of State talked about the ongoing roll-out of the JobsPlus scheme. In Connemara, people have to cross Galway city to access the Intreo office. Is the Department taking cognisance of such issues as distances travelled, availability of public transport and so on?
On the second question, there is ongoing co-operation and engagement through local Intreo offices. Where issues like those the Deputy mentioned have come up, they are covered under the contractual agreement. People are going to great lengths to ensure individuals can access the centres. Where there have been difficulties with transport, for example, minibuses have been hired to collect people and deliver them to the nearest centre. It is a flexible process.
The Deputy's first question is about self-referral and it is something I expect to be raised more and more as we proceed. In the case of Tús, we responded to demand in this regard by stipulating that 20% of participants could be assigned via self-referral. In the case of JobPath, it is a little early in the process to take that type of approach. We have rolled out the pilot schemes, as I outlined. If the service works well, which I am confident it will, there will be a demand on future Governments to allow some element of self-referral. I am already hearing complaints from people whose neighbour was able to access JobPath but they were not. I see a future demand in that regard and I will encourage a response from Government when it arises.
Labour Activation Measures
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Question:9. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection what amounts to a progression plan under the new Intreo system for applicants for jobseeker's allowance. [1211/16]
My question concerns what is contained, or should be contained, within the progression plans that are being offered to jobseeker's allowance applicants by Intreo offices.
A personal progression plan is, as its name suggests, a document setting out the actions a jobseeker should take to enhance his or her prospects of finding employment. The plan is agreed between the jobseeker and an Intreo case officer as part of the activation service offered in Intreo centres. Similar plans are developed and agreed between jobseekers and local employment service providers or JobPath providers in cases where jobseekers are referred to those services.
A plan will typically include details on the jobseeker's employment experience and educational qualifications, work skills, employment preferences and any identified barriers to employment, such as literacy or numeracy difficulties. The plan will also include any actions agreed between the case officer and the jobseeker and these are, in most cases, divided into two types. First are those that are developmental in nature, such as undertaking a training course. Second are those that are employment-related, such applying for a specific job, considering a community employment or Tús placement, or uploading a CV onto a jobs website. In most cases, the personal progression plan is agreed at the first meeting between a case officer and the unemployed person and forms the basis for discussion at any follow-up meetings. Depending on progress against the agreed actions or any changes in the jobseeker's circumstances, the plan may be revised at any of those meetings. In other words, it is a living document that is updated as required.
The benefit of developing a structured personal progression plan is that it focuses the discussion between the case officer and the jobseeker on actions that are appropriate to the jobseeker's circumstances. In doing so, it helps jobseekers to identify the options and actions that are available and most appropriate to them. It also sets a timeframe within which those options and actions should be exercised and, importantly, engages the public employment service , which is Intreo, in helping the jobseeker to take advantage of those options.
The Tánaiste and I are often at loggerheads on social welfare issues but moving towards an integrated service is one of the logical steps her Department has taken which should have been done many years ago. There are problems, however, with some of the progression plans being given to jobseekers. In some cases, for instance, they are unhelpful or unrealistic for the applicants for whom they are devised. Is any assessment undertaken with jobseekers who have gone through the process to see whether the system needs to be tweaked to ensure people get the fullest benefit from the positive changes that have been made? We have moved from a system of dole offices to one comprising offices that offer a good deal of other services. The idea was sold that this would involve a one-step process, with people moving directly into education or employment. However, some jobseekers seem to be stuck in the middle and are not moving forward because of the barriers the Tánaiste mentioned, which are apparently not being taken fully on board by some case workers.
The purpose of this initiative is to bring the case officer and the unemployed person together and based on the latter's knowledge of what he or she would like to do, previous experience, educational levels and so on, find the best path to work or training for that individual. If there are particular problems, such as poor numeracy or literacy skills, the employment officer will seek to address them in co-operation with the jobseeker. It is very important to ask people the simple question of what they would like to do. Some jobseekers, particularly younger people, might never have worked before. It is about suggesting that they try this or that, based on their interests, skills and experience.
I have just come from a meeting at Diageo Ireland. Three years ago, in collaboration with Guinness, we set up a scheme whereby young people seeking to work in the hospitality sector could partake of a dedicated education course offering a FETAC qualification, after which they would participate in a similar period of work experience. I met those young people at the outset and the transformation in them since they completed the programme is remarkable. That scheme, which started in St. James's Gate, has since been rolled out to Dundalk, with the first participants there graduating last year, and to Belfast. We intend to roll it out countrywide, including to Derry.
All I can say is that if done well and with support, particularly from employers and likely employers, it has the potential to give people a lot of additional opportunities to get back to work.
Written Answers follow Adjournment.