Ned O'Keeffe
Ceist:36 Mr. E. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social Welfare the plans, if any, he has to reduce the growing numbers on the long-term unemployment register; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22282/96]
Written Answers. - Long-term Unemployment Register.
The Deputy will be aware that the Government has introduced a range of coordinated measures, specifically targeted at the long-term unemployed, which are designed to provide the necessary supports and incentives to enable them to re-enter the active labour force and thus to share fully in the benefits of our economic growth. In this year alone, I have introduced a series of pro-employment reforms of the social welfare system which are aimed at making it easier both for employers to create new jobs and for the unemployed, particularly the long-term unemployed, to avail of employment opportunities.
These measures include an increase in the PRSI-free allowance from £50 per week to £80 per week with reductions in the employer PRSI rates from 9 per cent to 8.5 per cent in the case of the lower incentive rate and from 12.2 per cent to 12 per cent in the case of the main rate; an increase of £10 in the income limits applied in determining entitlement to family income supplement, which means that most current recipients are getting an increase of £6 a week; the continued payment of increases for dependent children for up to 13 weeks to people in receipt of such increases at the full rate who have been unemployed for 12 months or more and who take up employment which is expected to last for at least four weeks; the reform of unemployment assistance which is designed to simplify the arrangements for claiming unemployment assistance and to make it more attractive for recipients to take up part-time or casual work opportunities; an increase of 5,000 in the number of back to work allowances from 10,000 to 15,000 places during 1996. In view of the success of this scheme, the Government recently approved a further increase of 2,000 in the number of allowances bringing the total up to 17,000; a further substantial increase in the monthly rates of child benefit. By channelling resources to child benefit, which is a universal payment, as opposed to child dependant allowances which are lost on taking up employment, the disincentive effects of the latter payments are greatly lessened; the introduction of a new one-parent family payment from January 1997. This new payment will merge the existing lone parent's allowance and deserted wife's benefit and is designed to make employment a more feasible option for lone parents; improvements in the third level allowance scheme through the provision of a £100 book grant and through the granting of a payment equivalent to the maximum rate of unemployment benefit to students currently on reduced rates of payment of the allowance; the Department of Enterprise and Employment, and the Department of Education also have a range of programmes to assist the unemployed to gain access to employment.
The problem of long-term unemployment requires the sustained application of effective measures by a number of Departments and State agencies. The Government has demonstrated its total commitment to tackling this deep-rooted problem and I assure the Deputy that I will continue my programme of social welfare reform which is aimed at removing any existing disincentives to employment and ensuring that the system operates effectively in terms of providing both income support and the support necessary for people to re-enter the active labour force.