Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 May 2004
423 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of taxi licence holders who have availed of the back-to-work scheme in each of the past three years; if information is available on the number of such licence holders who returned their licence when their entitlement to this allowance ended; and if he will address this issue with his colleague the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. [12533/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe back to work allowance scheme consists of two strands. These are the back to work enterprise allowance for people going into self employment and the back to work allowance for employees. Information on the type of employment or self employment of back to work allowance scheme participants is not recorded on the computer systems through which back to work allowance payments are made. However, evaluations of the scheme carried out by independent consultants indicate that about 13% of back to work enterprise allowance participants are engaged in the carriage of goods and people. This category includes taxi/hackney drivers and couriers. There are currently 8,451 participants in the self employed strand of the scheme and a further 6,011 participants in the employee strand. These data suggest that there are approximately 1,000 participants in the self-employment strand of the scheme engaged in the carriage of goods and people, including participants in the taxi industry.
No record is kept of the numbers of taxi drivers who surrender their licences on completion of the allowance. However, the numbers involved are likely to be small, in that experience has shown that the great majority of enterprises supported through the scheme are successful. Evaluations of the scheme indicate that almost 80% of participants in the back to work
enterprise allowance remained in business or in other forms of employment when their participation in the scheme had ended.
Applications for the self employed strand of the scheme must be approved by either the Department's locally based facilitators, or, in partnership areas, by the enterprise officer. In all cases the facilitator or enterprise officer must be satisfied that the business will survive beyond the four years during which the allowance is payable. The back to work scheme is kept under regular review to ensure it retains its focus in assisting the long term unemployed and other vulnerable groups into sustainable employment or self employment while also ensuring that participants do not displace enterprises already in existence.
The question of displacement is specifically considered before claims are approved. As both the facilitator and enterprise officer are familiar with supply and demand for services in their area, they are best placed to decide if displacement will occur. If this is the case the enterprise will not be approved and the allowance is not awarded. This applies to all businesses including the taxi business.
