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Social Welfare Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Questions (303)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

303. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Social Protection the way in which she plans to meet the commitment in the Programme for Government to expand the Ability Programme; the funding set aside in 2020 and 2021 for this programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35687/21]

View answer

Written answers

The Programme for Government commits to fine-tune and expand targeted employment schemes, such as the Ability Programme, to help more people with disabilities stay in the workforce.

The Ability Programme was introduced in June 2018 for a three-year period and is a pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities. The funding for the Programme will amount to around €16 million over the three-year period and is being co-funded by the EU and the Irish Exchequer under the EU's ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) Operational Programme 2014-2020.

The aim of the Ability Programme is to help bring young people with disabilities who are not work-ready closer to the labour market through engagement in training and personal development activities, to be followed by an incremental exposure to work. The Programme is being delivered by 27 community and voluntary groups from around the country, selected on foot of a competitive process.

The projects being funded have been designed to assist young people in their transition from school to further education and employment. In total, the Programme is supporting over 2,600 young people with disabilities aged between 15 and 29 years of age. Pobal has been contracted by the Department to manage the Programme.

The outturn in 2020 was €4.5m and the estimate for 2021 is approximately €1.76m. The Programme concluded at the end of June. However, funding for the programme has been extended by two months to the end of August 2021. This additional period will allow organisations extra time to appropriately transition current arrangements and support participants progression appropriately.

In conjunction with the Ability Providers Subgroup, the following transition arrangements have been made:-

- Options for progression pathways have been offered for Ability participants who are work-ready (and the projects themselves), to existing schemes run under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection, such as Community Employment and Local Employment Services.

- On 16 April I announced a Call for Applications under the Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2021 to support initiatives under the heading of "Measures to Support Employment, Education and Training Outcomes for People with a Disability”. Up to €5 million will be available under the measure. Pobal is managing the process on behalf of the Department. The delivery period for the successful applicants will be from 1st September 2021 to 31st December 2022.

Before any successor programme to Ability can be decided on, there are a number of factors that need to be satisfactorily considered to inform the need for, and design of, any follow-on programme. These include:

- the outcomes of the current programme, including effectiveness of the programme in achieving objectives,

- the findings of the ongoing evaluation of the programme and the recommendations arising from this. It is critical that the evaluation of the Ability Programme informs the design of new programmes

- how a subsequent programme would fit within the suite of existing employment supports targeted at people with disabilities provided by the Department of Social Protection and broader national strategies for employment of people with disabilities, including the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities,

- possible co-funding availability.

It is expected that the learnings and good practice will feed into the design of a new programme under ESF+ and that such a programme will be in place by January 2023.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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