Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2013
300. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of schemes available to her Department to facilitate back to work including self-employment in each of the past four years to date; the extent of success under each heading to date; her future proposals in respect of recently announced schemes in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11625/13]
View answerDetail in respect of all schemes operated by my Department to support unemployed people back to work or to self-employment, training and education is set out in the recently published review of employment support schemes examines a range of programmes. This publication is available on the Department’s website on www.welfare.ie. This review is focused primarily on assessing the contribution certain programmes can make to the Department of Social Protection’s activation policy stance, which aims to ensure engagement with customers of working age, who are in receipt of specified social welfare payments/benefits, in order to support them and their families in progressing into employment and/or other appropriate progression. Details on expenditure and other information relating to the schemes is set out in the Review. Expenditure on certain schemes has significantly increased in the past six years, such as Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) which has increased almost three fold in that time.
