Vol. 516 No. 5
90 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the proposals, if any, she has for the jobs initiative scheme; if it is intended to reformulate the scheme as an active labour market programme; if funds will be made available for the employment of supervisors and managers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8012/00]
The jobs initiative programme is a three year work experience programme for persons who have been unemployed for five years or longer. The fundamental objective of the programme is to progress participants into mainstream employment. The first phase of participants have completed their term and are now availing of a six month extension in order to address any training or development needs they may have and to allow time for the local employment service to engage more actively with them to facilitate their progression to employment in the open labour market.
The recent review of the operation of the JI programme by Deloitte & Touche recommended that the eligibility criteria for the programme remain unchanged. My Department has consulted with the social partners on this issue and there is broad agreement that the focus of the programme on the older long-term unemployed should remain as it is. The programme will have an increased emphasis on progression to employment in the open labour market. There is some need, however, for flexibility in defining what constitutes progression and the pace at which it can occur. Different options will be appropriate depending on individual circumstances. Therefore, as recommended by the consultants, it is likely that some roll-over will be necessary to facilitate overall progression.
The consultation process will be completed shortly at which point new guidelines will be issued.
This question has been asked many times. I am surprised the Minister has not yet made up her mind on the future of this valuable programme. When will workers doing demonstrably valuable work under the programme find out what the future holds for them?
We were not in a position to engage in consultation before the initial three year period expired so we extended the programme for six months. That six month period lasts until the end of June, when 226 people will be affected. We are finalising the consultation process and a decision should be made by Easter. There must be some flexibility – hard and fast rules cannot apply in every case. These are people in similar circumstances but their experiences may differ. While the majority will progress into the labour market after three years, there are others who will regress to the live register, and we do not want that to happen. It is my intention to introduce a degree of flexibility in individual cases and leave discretion to the experts who deal with individuals on a case by case basis.
Does the Minister agree that, notwithstanding the extension until the end of June, it is important that workers, promoters and sponsors within the programme know about its continuation? Does the Minister recall receiving a comprehensive submission about the Deloitte & Touche review from the Tallaght Partnership? That review contained valuable and insightful remarks about the complexities to which the Minister referred – the differences in projects and the difficulties in progression. It appears that some of the sponsors never intended that there would be progression. Will the Minister respond to the submission?
I have read the submission. There are a number of things to do – we must strengthen the training element involved and enhance the role of the local employment service. I will do that. In the main, however, the sponsors are voluntary bodies and some of them do not intend that the person involved would progress. Many of the people involved in the initiative have been carrying out valuable work for voluntary bodies which could not continue without them. These are issues which involve community employment, the jobs initiative and the sustaining of such work for voluntary bodies and schools in future. We will have to make a decision on the jobs initiative which bears in mind the recommendations of the consultants but which leaves a degree of flexibility for the local employment service to decide how the scheme might operate in individual sponsor and participant cases.
A central conclusion of the Tallaght Partnership submission was that to describe the job initiative programme, as Deloitte & Touche did, as an active labour market programme was extremely simplistic. By continuing the focus on older workers, is the Minister acknowledging that for older workers progression is often more difficult than for younger workers? What hope can the Minister offer groups working in social economy projects, the displacement of which would have very serious consequences?
I agree with Deputy Rabbitte. Many of these projects were established with a view to helping unemployed people progress into regular labour market jobs and they have not been successful. Clearly the older a person is, the more difficult it is. We now live in a high-tech environment which is alien to many people over 35. Enormous efforts are being made with FIT and other programmes to help older unemployed people adapt to the new employment situation and we must do more in this area.
There is an important role for the social economy in the area and by Easter I should be able to make a definitive decision on the job initiative programme which deals with the needs of the older long-term unemployed, those who are over 35 and who have been out of work for more than five years. They are the main focus in the economy. Long-term unemployment has fallen to 2.1%. We could effectively eliminate it by using the appropriate programmes.
