I propose to take Questions Nos. 1094, 1095, 1096, 1112, 1119, 1122, 1124, 1125, 1134 and 1187 together.
Following on from a review of public employment services in my Department, my officials have commenced a series of procurement exercises to secure appropriate services to engage with the long-term unemployed and other cohorts throughout the State. The focus throughout this exercise is the customer, their needs and how they can be met through customer-centric services delivering the necessary supports in their journey to employment. My Department is conscious of the need to have supports in place at the time that the customer needs them and to be able to respond rapidly to changes in the labour market and the demand for services.
This process was preceded by extensive engagement both at Ministerial and official level since 2019, including site visits by officials to every Local Employment Service, Job Club and Employability service in the State, a briefing to stakeholders on the Indecon Reviews of Local Employment Services and Job Clubs, engagement with stakeholders by external consultants on behalf of the Department and numerous meetings at official and Ministerial level with the representative body, the ILDN, and other stakeholders.
The Regional Employment Service model used for phase one was the product of extensive stakeholder engagement and the input of external consultants. It is fully in line with the recently published Pathways to Work 2021-2025 strategy. In addition, ensuring any new employment service was legally compatible with EU and national procurement regulations was an absolute imperative.
The new service is not a privatisation of Government services. These services have been outsourced by the State since the mid-1990s. Instead, it is a shift to competitive procurement as required by law. The possibility of retaining the current LES model, which was developed a generation ago, with rolling contracts under a closed procurement process, was not an option.
The procurement of the new approach requires tenderers to demonstrate their ability to deliver a high-quality service to the long-term unemployed and others furthest from the labour market. The approach place a significant focus on tenderers ability to access a wide range of supports and services locally in order to assist their clients progress towards employment.
Tenders have been received for the first phase of this procurement or a Regional Employment Service, with four lots covering seven counties in the Midlands and the North-West and the preferred bidders will be notified in due course. Any learnings from this process will feed into the second phase.
The second phase, still under development, will see the expansion of the Regional Employment Service throughout the State, as well as the procurement of additional employment services on a national level through a separate request for tenders.
The Regional Employment Service is aimed at cohorts furthest from the labour market and has been designed to be accessible to tenders from the community and voluntary sector, giving due regard to their experience and competencies.
As the request for tenders is still under development, I am not in a position to reveal details of the forthcoming phase two procurement for employment services. However, as with phase one, the emphasis on designing a request for tender that places no obstacles to the community and voluntary sector will remain a guiding principle.
