Robert Dowds
Question:112 Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person who has been on a Tús work placement may go directly from Tús to a community employment scheme. [4595/12]
View answerThursday, 26 January 2012
Questions (115, 116)
Written answers
Tús, the community work placement initiative introduced during 2011, will provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year when fully operational. As of 20th January 2012, 2,395 persons are engaged with 5,000 to be engaged when Tús is fully operational later this Spring. Tús is focused on those people who are on the live register for 12 months or more and in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.
Participants are identified by the Department of Social Protection and following selection, are referred to one of the 52 Local Development Companies or Údarás na Gaeltachta where their skills and interests are profiled and matched to available positions offered by the community, voluntary and not-for-profile sector locally. Given that the first participants will complete their engagement with Tús in July and August 2012, consideration is being given to the future opportunities that can be made available, including access to community employment and other activation measures.
Question No. 113 answered with Question No. 30.
Mattie McGrath
Question:114 Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection, further to Parliamentary Question No. 298 of 17 January 2012, if her attention has been drawn to an inaccuracy in her reply where she stated that community employment participants can continue to avail of education and training programmes that are available to them free of charge from existing State funded providers; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that South Tipperary Vocational Education Committee informed a CE scheme that participants could no longer avail of courses run by the VEC for free and that the CE scheme would have to pay for any training availed of by a CE participant; if she will clarify the position; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4601/12]
View answerCircular Letter 0076-2011 issued by the Department of Education and Skills to the Chief Executive Officers of the VECs is clear that those who met the VEC criteria are eligible for free training, including those on Community Employment (CE) programmes.
"Literacy is fundamental to personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability. For the purposes of this circular, Adult Literacy is the provision of basic education, including reading, writing and numeracy skills, and ICT for adults who wish to improve their literacy and numeracy competencies to enhance their functional participation in personal, social and economic life.
The target cohort for adult literacy programmes are those adults with less than upper second level education. It is recognised that there are those who have upper second level education but whose literacy and numeracy skills are less than or equivalent to Level 3 on the NFQ and VECs may include this cohort for programmes. All VEC adult literacy programmes are offered free-of-charge to any person over 16 years of age who fulfil the criteria outlined in the points above."
South Tipperary VEC is not aware of any request being made and having been refused. They are currently providing literacy tuition to one CE scheme at no cost to that scheme. Since the CE scheme funding was cut, the VEC has provided literacy tuition at no cost, as above.