Pat Rabbitte
Ceist:103 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of persons availing of the part-time education initiative in each of the past 12 months.
Written Answers. - Third Level Education Allowance Scheme.
Pat Rabbitte
Ceist:104 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of persons availing of the third level education allowance scheme in each of the past 12 months.
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 103 and 104 together.
The third level allowance scheme allows long term unemployed people as well as lone parents the opportunity to pursue full-time third level education while continuing to receive their full social welfare entitlements. Participants must be at least 23 years of age and be in receipt of payment for 12 months or more. There is no monthly breakdown of participants available but a total of 909 people are receiving the third level allowance in the current academic year.
The part-time education initiative is designed to encourage unemployed people to avail of the flexibility in the unemployment payments system which allows them to participate in part-time educational courses without infringing the condition requiring them to be available for work. Statistics are not maintained on the numbers who avail of this option but it is estimated that current numbers are in the region of 50.