Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2010
400 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 73 of 20 April 2010, the additional moneys and resources that will be put into employment and enabling services, that is, back to education and training schemes and child care provision prior to the proposed cuts to the lone parent scheme due to be made in 2011. [20159/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government is conscious that many lone parents will need access to education, training and enabling services such as childcare provision in order to acquire the skills they will need to gain employment. My Department has been working closely with other Departments and Agencies to ensure that the broader needs of lone parent families are met and that the changes to the One-Parent Family Payment due to be introduced in the forthcoming Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010, will be progressed in that context.
My Department provides a wide range of education opportunities for disadvantaged and low-income groups such as lone parents to strengthen their qualifications and skills base and thus maximise their chances of meeting the requirements of the modern labour market and gaining employment. The Back-to-Education Allowance Scheme currently assists some 3,220 people who are in receipt of the One-Parent Family Payment (out of a total of some 20,800 participants). Expenditure on the Scheme amounted to €107.3 million in 2009 and a further €169.7 million has been allocated to it for this year.
With regard to training opportunities, at present, all lone parents who present to FÁS Employment Services are automatically provided with a one-to-one guidance interview with an Employment Services Officer who either advises them on suitable labour market opportunities such as current work vacancies and suitable training/employment programme places or refers them to other FÁS supports.
Furthermore, a new support approach, the Social Inclusion Model, to help people to overcome barriers and to increase their opportunities to access training, employment programmes and, ultimately the labour market, is currently being tested by FÁS with lone parents.
The Social Inclusion Model is an inter-agency approach (involving FÁS, my Department, the Irish Vocational Education Association and lone parent organisations) that includes outreach information and recruitment and a part-time "Paving Your Way to Work" programme concerned with the provision of information supports regarding welfare to work, budgeting, personal coaching and training education and work options. It also includes basic IT training. The programme is aimed at individuals who are parenting alone who want to get a job or improve their job prospects and who need to access a wide range of information and/or learn new skills through training and/or to return to education in order to achieve this.
An expanded range of opportunities is also available in the area of childcare provision. The Government has invested some €1 billion throughout the last decade in developing the national childcare infrastructure by creating an additional 65,000 childcare places under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP). This investment has facilitated the recent introduction of the free Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) year for pre-school children — which will be particularly helpful to those parenting alone.
In addition, the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) funds a nationwide network of almost 1,000 community childcare facilities to enable them to charge reduced childcare fees to disadvantaged and low-income families. A revised CCSS is being introduced in September 2010, with a supplementary focus on labour activation. The subvention rates for low-income working parents are being enhanced and the existing level of childcare supports that are specific to lone parents is being maintained. Lone parents can avail of affordable childcare under the CCSS in the form of full or part-time day-care services and sessionalplayschool services for younger children. Equally importantly for lone parents, after-school services and homework clubs are included in the services provided.
