Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2013
98. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress that she has made in the implementation of the Pathways to Work plan; the use of private contractors in its implementation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11108/13]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the ‘Pathways to Work’ policy commits to the provision of more regular and on-going engagement and greater targeting of activation places and job opportunities for those who are unemployed. It also aims to increase engagement and incentivise employers to provide more jobs for people who are unemployed. INTREO is the new integrated employment activation and supports service model delivering on the ‘Pathways to Work’ policy. The first ten Intreo offices have now opened and service performance has improved in all of these offices with claim processing times and waiting times for new claimants for group interviews and follow up one-to-one interviews reduced.
The most significant elements of the Pathways to Work approach are: i) Profiling of clients to inform the approach taken to activation, and in particular to target those who are most likely to become long-term unemployed and to provide appropriate interventions at the earliest possible stage; ii) Early engagement with clients through group engagement sessions; iii) One to one interviews with case managers; iv) The agreement of a personal progression plan between the client and the Department setting how the steps to be taken by the client, with the support of the Department, in order to re-enter employment; v) The signing of a social contract – known as a Record of Mutual Commitments – between the Department and the client. This sets out the client’s rights with regard to the type and quality of services to be provided by the Department but also sets out the client’s responsibility to engage with these services and actively seek employment.
Progress under each of these headings is as follows: (a) The profiling of all new claimants is now operational in all DSP offices. Under the Pathways to Work programme, the Department had profiled 53,800 new claimants to the end of 2012.; (b) 68,600 clients had participated in group engagements by the end of December 2012; (c)158,000 one-to-one initial interviews were conducted by the end of December; in addition a further 134,000 follow-up meetings were held by the end of 2012; (d) all new clients in Intreo offices now sign the social contract.
Enhanced engagement with employers at local level is also part of the Intreo process and this is progressing well. A dedicated Employer Engagement Unit has been established and an Employer Engagement Manager is available in each region to support and advise employers at each stage of the employment process including the advertisement of opportunities and sourcing potential candidates from the Live Register. During Autumn 2012, a series of employer briefings were held nationwide to provide employers with practical advice and assistance on the full range of recruitment supports available from the Department. Partly as a result of these engagements with employers, the Department developed the JobsPlus scheme, announced as part of the Action Plan for Jobs, to incentivise employers to recruit long term unemployed people from the Live Register. It is intended to launch this scheme for availability from July 2013.
In November 2012, following a procurement process, the Department engaged the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion London (CESIL) to provide expert advice with regard to the options for a contracted employment services model to supplement the Department’s own in-house services. The Department expects to receive CESIL’s final report shortly and will, at that stage, finalise its own proposals as to what type of contracting model, if any, should be submitted for consideration by Government.
