Nora Owen
Ceist:7 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment his views on the establishment of a national job placement and guidance service.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers - FÁS Employment Service.
FÁS currently provides an employment service in line with its functions under the Labour Services Act, 1987. My Department and FÁS are currently looking at ways in which the service can be developed with a view to providing a better service for the unemployed, particularly those who are long term unemployed.
Is the Minister aware that FÁS provides about 8 per cent of all placements in the economy? Is he also aware that the long term unemployed in the sector are only getting about one-fifteenth of all places that become available? Will he agree that a proper national job and guidance service has proven very effective in the UK and France in helping persons who are long term unemployed? Will he further agree there is a great deal of scepticism about FÁS schemes in that they do not give a person a foothold in the normal job market and provide no long term future? Will he consider something comprehensive and focused instead of what we now have in FÁS?
I am aware of the concerns expressed most recently by the National Economic and Social Forum report, No. 4, which made suggestions in relation to changes in the employment placement service. FÁS has 49 employment service offices located throughout the country, supplemented by approximately 80 clinics. Clearly, no single agency could be responsible for all the placements. To presume that FÁS should have that responsibility, although the Deputy did not, would be a bureaucratic nightmare. Part of the difficulty is that not all the vacancies are notified to FÁS. In conjunction with my Department FÁS is examining ways in which its employment placement services can be improved.
Will the Minister comment on job placement and the role played by the facilitators? How is FÁS dovetailing with the Minister's Department and the Department of Social Welfare with regard to the placement officer and the facilitator who function in the same location in many areas?
That is one of the areas being examined in the light of the NESF report as well as the whole question of how we can improve FÁS placement services. There are, as I may have told the Deputy on a previous occasion in the House, clients of the social welfare system who do not interact with the FÁS placement services. With the facilitators, we are trying to ensure that there is better interaction. Given the large number of long term unemployed and the fact that the projected figures are less than positive I would be the first to admit that we need to do more in this area. That is the reason we are examining the matter with a view to improving the position.
What attempt is being made by the Department of Social Welfare and the placement section to establish a profile of the person who is long term unemployed to see what they are interested in and what their career aspirations are? In many instances they are offered a place on a training course or a job placement in which they may have no interest.
We are examining that matter for the precise reason the Deputy has alluded to, to establish a detailed profile of the people who are signing on and may not visit FÁS offices with a view to determining their specific needs. There is co-operation at local level between FÁS and social welfare offices. This is replicated at national level. We are working together to provide a better placement service. We need more accurate statistics which would enable us to target the appropriate measure, be it employment, work experience or training.