Gerry Adams
Question:21. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Social Protection the date on which she will publish the evaluation report on the JobBridge scheme. [18827/13]
View answerWednesday, 24 April 2013
Questions (21, 27, 30, 31)
Brian Stanley
Question:27. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to ensure that a host organisation benefiting from free labour through the JobBridge scheme makes a financial contribution to the weekly payments made to participants; the date on which these payments will begin and the value of these payments. [18828/13]
View answer
Joe Higgins
Question:30. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for Social Protection following the Indecon Report into the JobsBridge scheme which revealed that 240 of the 7,300 companies surveyed admitted to availing of the scheme to displace paid jobs, the reason that only 12 companies have since been banned from participating in the scheme. [18969/13]
View answerGerry Adams
Question:31. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons who have participated in the JobBridge scheme in the private sector; the number of those persons who remained in employment within the company in which they completed a JobBridge internship. [18826/13]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 27, 30 and 31 together.
Since it commenced on 1st July, 2011, Jobbridge has made good progress. As at 18 April, 2013, 16,545 jobseekers had commenced internships since the scheme was launched. Currently there are c 6,000 people on internships with c 2,500 internships opportunities available to be filled. In order to assess the impact of the scheme the Department commissioned Indecon economic consultants to complete an independent evaluation based on an analysis of Departmental data and surveys and interviews with host organisations and interns. I expect to publish the final report from Indecon in May.
Indecon’s interim report, published last year, found that 61% of interns secured employment either with their host organisation or another employer within 5 months of finishing an internship. These progression rates compare very favourably with similar schemes across Europe. The evaluation study also found that 67% of internships were with private sector host organizations. The participation of large numbers of private sector host organisations is making a significant contribution to the quality of experience for interns and in improving their chances in entering the workforce.
Of those individuals who undertook their internships in private sector host organisations, 54.1% were in employment at the time of the research (this includes interns who had just completed their internship) of whom 30.2% were in employment with their host organization. This indicates that c one third of interns progress from an internship into direct employment with the host organisation. The issue of host organisations making a financial contribution to the weekly top-up payment to interns is under review in my Department. However any change to existing arrangements will need careful consideration as one of the advantages of the existing scheme is that it is simple to understand and administer for interns, host organisations and the Department.
With regard to the issue of displacement the Department has taken all reasonable steps to minimise displacement of existing paid employment by internships. The terms of the scheme prohibit the use of internships to displace existing employees, there are limits on the number of internships a host organisation can offer (no more than 10% of the workforce at a particular location), host organisations are not permitted to ‘roll-over’ internships by replacing one intern with another at the end of the internship, and all applications from host organisations are screened to minimise the possibility of displacement. Nevertheless displacement may be subtle and it is impossible to eliminate it completely.
The Department’s own control measures are based on a combination of randomised monitoring visits/inspections with host organisations and on investigation of complaints received from interns. As of 18th April, 2013, 15 host organisations have been excluded from further participation in JobBridge as a consequence of these control activities.