Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 November 2006
226 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of counsellors employed by his Department; the number who have been recruited since April 2005 and where they have been recruited from; the type of qualification these counsellors must hold; the locations of these counsellors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38232/06]
View answer227 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his progress to date in recruiting personal counsellors to give one-to-one interviews to lone parents and assist them in accessing training, education and employment as announced in 2005 (details supplied); the number of such counsellors employed by his Department and locations of same; the number of lone parents who have had access to these services since April 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38233/06]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 226 and 227 together.
My Department does not directly employ counsellors to assist lone parents. Rather, it has a number of facilitators who provide a range of services for people attempting to rejoin the labour market. A key role of the facilitator is to focus on the support programmes available to those seeking work, to identify their needs and to seek to engage them on a progression path towards employment and self reliance.
The announcement referred to by the Deputy was in the context of the Government proposals to support lone parents, subsequently published in a discussion paper in March 2006. As the Deputy is aware, the discussion paper proposes the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of childcare; improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low income families with young children.
As co-ordination of this cross-cutting initiative will be crucial, the Government has instructed the Senior Officials Group on Social Inclusion to draw up an implementation plan to progress the non-income recommendations in tandem with the development of the legislation required in my Department to introduce a new payment scheme.
Work on the development of this implementation plan is under way. Issues including access to childcare support, education, training and activation measures are being actively considered by the relevant Departments and Agencies. It is envisaged that my Department's facilitators will play a key role in the operation of the implementation plan within my Department.
