Written Answers Nos. 122-129
122. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to maintain the method of funding, that is, cost met model and not the cost bid model for local employment services (details supplied). [26151/21]
View answer130. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the concerns raised by local development companies regarding the provision of support for employment service providers; her plans to address such concerns, including their role in generating employment following the fall-out from Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26224/21]
View answer141. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans for local development companies that unlike private entities provide a complete wrap-around service for their communities and work on an non-for-profit basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26225/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 122, 130 and 141 together.
As part of the July jobs stimulus, the Government committed to increase resources dedicated to the delivery of employment services and to expand the coverage of the local employment type services to areas not currently covered by existing providers. My Department will shortly issue a Request for Tender (RFT) to expand local employment type services into some geographical areas where a Local Employment Service does not currently exist.
The forthcoming RFT will have no impact on the contracts of existing local employment service providers in other areas, and it is expected that the tender will prove attractive to local community-based organisations with a strong community ethos, including the Local Development Companies.
My Department has obtained legal advice that employment assistance and advice services must be procured though open competitive procurement processes in line with EU and national procurement rules.
In practice, the annual "cost met" funding approach requires a level of scrutiny of day-to-day expenditure, which places an undue administrative burden on both the employment service provider and my Department. Such an approach diverts valuable resources away from supporting clients and, as such, and does little to enhance employment outcomes for the long-term unemployed. Moving to a new multiannual funding approach, which pays for each client referred to the service, coupled with a strong emphasis on quality of service provision will reduce the administrative burden and is more likely to deliver enhanced outcomes for those availing of the service.
Separately, the current contracts for all contracted Public Employment Service (PES) provision, expire at the end of 2021. These contracts have been in place in many cases for over 20 years with no formal procurement being undertaken in that period. This is not in compliance with the requirements of good governance or proper procurement. My Department is therefore developing a series of RFTs to ensure that with effect from 2022 the Public Employment Service has sufficient capacity and can deliver a sufficient high-quality employment service in order to support all those who need our assistance and help in securing employment.
Organisations, including the Local Development Companies, with strong experience in the delivery of similar services at a community and local level, will be in a strong position to respond to the RFTs when they issue.
123. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection when the child maintenance review group will report on child maintenance matters; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26175/21]
View answerThe Government established a Child Maintenance Review Group to examine a number of issues regarding child maintenance within the social protection system and to make a recommendation as to whether or not there is a case for the establishment of a Child Maintenance Agency in Ireland.
The Group is chaired by former Circuit Court Judge Catherine Murphy and includes legal, policy and academic professionals as well as officials from my Department and the Department of Justice.
The work of the Group is well underway. To date the Group has held six meetings and there are a number of other meetings scheduled on a regular basis over the coming months.
A consultation process to facilitate feedback from stakeholder groups and members of the public in order to inform the Group's work has been completed.
The report of the Group is due to be submitted to me later this year.
124. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Social Protection if consideration will be given to extending the school meals programme to all schools in the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25572/21]
View answerThe school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement.
The scheme provides funding for a breakfast or snack and lunch in DEIS schools.
The government has provided €65.1m for the school meals programme this year.
There are 2,737 schools (2,290 primary and 447 secondary) that do not benefit from the scheme. The combined enrolment in these schools is 658,546 students. Extending access to the school meals programme to include all schools to fund the provision of a breakfast/snack and a lunch, which is the current funding available to DEIS schools, would cost an additional €213.5m for a full school year.
Any decision to extend the current provision would need to be considered in a budgetary context.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
125. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Social Protection the options available for persons coming off the pandemic unemployment payment in cases in which their employer has had to reduce working hours after businesses reopen from Covid-19. [26075/21]
View answer134. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Social Protection the Covid-19 supports in place for aviation cabin crew; the length of time these supports will remain in place; if there are plans to extend or expand these supports including by the introduction of a German-style support scheme or a scheme which supports workers in their transition back to full-time employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25448/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 134 together.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is a statutory support for employees and self- employed who have lost their work due to Covid 19. This support is available to people affected across all sectors, including those in aviation.
The PUP scheme will remain available until 30th June. Government will set out plans for the future of the PUP post June over the coming weeks taking account of the trajectory of the virus, progress on the vaccine roll out, progress in terms of people returning to work and the continued impact of the pandemic on the economy over the months ahead.
The Department’s main social welfare schemes for people who are unemployed are the social insurance contribution-based Jobseeker's Benefit and means tested Jobseeker's Allowance. Both schemes provide support to individuals, including cabin crew in the aviation sector, so that they can work up to 3 days a week and still retain access to a reduced jobseeker’s payment.
Jobseeker's Benefit support is paid for up to 9 months (or 234 days) for people with 260 or more PRSI contributions paid. It is paid for up to 6 months (or 156 days) for people with fewer than 260 PRSI contributions paid. Where a person exhausts their entitlement to Jobseeker's Benefit, they may be eligible for support under the means tested Jobseeker's Allowance scheme and this information is communicated to recipients.
As the impact of the pandemic on the economy evolves over the coming weeks and months, supports will continue to be reviewed and developed as appropriate, including those available to employers to support job retention and help both workers and employers where demand for a firm’s services or products is reduced for an extended period of time. In the consideration of any new supports, international best practice, including the German style scheme referred to, will be taken into account.
I trust that this clarifies the position at this time.
126. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to calls from an organisation (details supplied) to extend the jobseeker’s transitional payment to lone parents of children until the youngest child turns 18 years of age; the estimated cost of such an extension in the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26229/21]
View answerMy Department provides a number of options for income support to lone parents once their entitlement to the One-Parent Family Payment ceases. These include the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment where the youngest child is aged 7 to 13 years, inclusive, and the Jobseeker’s Allowance payment which may be paid to lone parents where the youngest child is aged 14 or over.
The Working Family Payment is also available to lone parents who are working 19 or more hours per week. Lone parents currently on Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment who increase their working hours to 19 or more per week can transfer to the Working Family Payment. Lone parents who move to that payment may also apply for the Back to Work Family Dividend.
To extend eligibility for the Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment as proposed would be contrary to the policy goal of the changes to the One-Parent Family Payment scheme introduced since 2015. Those changes were designed to tackle long-term social welfare dependency and its associated poverty risks. This is done through a tapering of income supports and a more active engagement process offering enhanced educational, training and employment supports.
I am advised that the cost of increasing the age limit for a qualified child for the jobseeker's transitional payment (JST) until the youngest child reaches 18 is not easily estimated as there are significant barriers to undertaking such an exercise. For example, some people might no longer be within the welfare system, while others could seek to move from alternative payments such as Jobseekers Allowance. It would be difficult for my Department to estimate the magnitude of this flow into and between schemes with any degree of accuracy. Likewise, I am advised that the number of young people who are 18 years of age and over who are still in secondary education, and the proportion of those who are the children of lone parents in receipt of benefits, is not readily available or easily estimated.
128. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Social Protection the Covid-19 supports available for taxi drivers from her Department; if there are plans to extend or expand these supports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25424/21]
View answerThe Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was introduced by my Department for qualifying employees and self-employed individuals who lost employment due to Covid-19. To date, expenditure on the scheme is approximately €7.5 billion.
The support is available across all sectors, including taxi drivers, many of whom are self-employed.
A self- employed individual may earn income from self- employment up to €960 net of expenses, over a rolling 8 week period payment and retain entitlement to PUP. Where they exceed this threshold, they may qualify for a weekly payment of €128.60 under the Part Time Job Incentive scheme which has been extended to the self-employed who work up to 24 hours per week.
Individuals exiting PUP to restart their business may qualify for my Department’s Enterprise Support Grant. The grant provides up to €1,000 to assist with reopening costs and can be used towards fuel and insurance costs. The grant is payable to qualifying individuals who employ fewer than 10 people, have an annual turnover of less than €1 million and are not eligible for support from similar reopening grants, from other Departments. Over 9,000 businesses have been supported with €8.4m awarded under this grant to date. One of the main sectors supported is the transport sector, accounting for almost one third of the grants approved.
Government will set out plans for the future of the Covid-19 supports over the coming weeks. taking account of the trajectory of the virus, progress on the vaccine roll out, progress in terms of people returning to work and the continued impact of the pandemic on the economy over the months ahead.
I trust that this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
