Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 July 2013
58. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection if she is satisfied with the progress made in advancing the Pathways to Work scheme in view of reported recent criticism from the European Commission, ECB and IMF in their Cabinet memo; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33274/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraPathways to Work represents the most significant ever change to the manner in which the State engages with and provides services for people who are unemployed. It delivers on the programme for Government commitment to create a co-ordinated employment and entitlements service and involves a multi-annual programme of complex legislative, organisational, process, people and work change which runs to the end of 2014. There are five strands to Pathways to Work, including engagement with people who are unemployed, the provision of activation places and opportunities, incentivisation to take up opportunities, work with employers and reform of institutions. I am satisfied that we are making good progress on all of these elements. Last year, for example, 68,600 clients participated in a group engagement process, while more than 40,000 clients have benefited from such engagements already in 2013. Similarly, the Department conducted 158,000 initial one-to-one guidance interviews with jobseekers last year. The target is to complete 185,000 initial interviews in 2013. Under the Intreo model being rolled out across the country, the process of engagement starts immediately when a client registers for a jobseeker's payment and is informed by a personal profile captured in respect of each individual. That happens for everybody who signs up.
I note that we are entirely dependent on the OPW for the update, refurbishment and supply of offices, where required. For example, the Waterford offices are expected to be completed by the end of the year, which is a positive development.
With regard to the provision of the one-stop-shop element of the service, the first 12 Intreo offices are now live. We are converting a further 31 offices to full Intreo service providers by the end of the year. Many of our offices are offering Intreo services while they wait for physical refurbishment to take place. We intend to complete the full roll-out to all 63 offices of the Department in 2014.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
This element of the new service is dependent on the acquisition of new properties and the structural modification of existing properties and, therefore, has the longest lead time to completion. The implementation of more intensive and rigorous case management requires that additional resources be devoted to the activation process. In this regard, the implementation of the new Intreo process and the integration of previously separate functions in FÁS, the community welfare service and the Department of Social Protection are creating efficiencies that will enable staff to be redeployed to case management activities. It is expected that 300 staff will be redeployed to these activities by the end of the year, which will enable the Department to continue to resource its activation agenda. In parallel and in order to augment and complement this effort, the Department is considering greater use of contracted resources. Towards this end, it issued a prior information notice of a potential tender competition on 28 June 2013. Feedback on this notice will inform the further evaluation of the contracting option.
I am satisfied that the redeployment of staff, combined with potential use of contracted resources, will enable the Department to complete its roll-out of the Pathways to Work model on schedule. The particular concern expressed by the troika related to the first strand of the programme - the pace at which we are changing how we engage with people who are unemployed and the extent to which we can resource this new engagement model.
The Minister has stated this is a centrepiece of the programme for Government. It is in the interests of every person in the country, regardless of political affiliation, that it is a resounding success. The Minister stated she was satisfied with progress. The scheme has been the subject of a number of reports, almost all of which have been critical. The most recent has been the report of the European Commission which includes remarks to the effect that progress has not been sufficiently fast in the light of the urgency and scale of the problem; that the pace of reform and the resources mobilised are insufficient, given the scale and urgency of the problem; that the capacity to engage meaningfully with jobseekers remains short; that rapid decisions and actions on the possible outsourcing of some activation services are needed but that progress has also been slow; that special attention needs to be dedicated to reskilling, upskilling and training, in particular for the long-term unemployed and the youth; and that faster action is needed to reform employment support schemes to increase their effectiveness. Taken together with the other reports, this is a damning indictment of progress in what is, in essence, a good scheme. Is the Minister aware of these criticisms and how does she propose to respond to them?
Physical premises represent one of the most significant difficulties. The Deputy has visited a social welfare office operating the new scheme. The key to the new scheme is having sufficient space to carry out the group engagements, at which we outline to people initially the services, schemes and opportunities the Department is making available. We also set out for people in these engagements their obligation to co-operate with the Department to get back to work. One-on-one interviews are then required to take place. We have conducted large numbers of such interviews and more than met the targets set. We need from the OPW offices at which we can conduct this business. The new offices offer levels of privacy and provide for discreet appointments.
I am in constant touch with the OPW to ensure that it remains extremely supportive and on the case in providing us with the offices.
The troika has gone out to a number of the offices and has been very impressed. A critical issue for the troika is that if, for instance, there was more growth in the economy - I note that a number of the partners to the troika, such as the IMF, have admitted that they got some of the ambitions for Ireland wrong and underestimated the effect of deflation - that would have an impact on the numbers getting back to work. The troika arrived in town today and that discussion is ongoing with it.
In announcing the scheme, Government set out a number of objectives. One objective is that 75,000 persons would be taken off the live register during the lifetime of the Government and that the average waiting time on the live register would be reduced from 21 to 12 months. What progress has been made to date on these objectives and how optimistic is the Minister that they will be realised?
From what we were told on the last occasion, I realise that the outsourcing of some of this work to private contractors was happening to some extent even before the Government announcement. The Minister then stated that the Government was studying how to go about further outsourcing. What is the position in that regard?
Finally, one can take a person off the live register, not only to get a job but to be re-educated or re-skilled. Much of this re-education and re-skilling would take place in the fourth-level education sector where funding has been cut back and pupil-teacher ratios have increased. How does that gel with the Government's objectives in Pathways to Work?
The last part of the question probably has the makings of a proper study for the troika as it arrives in Dublin because it addresses that balance between maintaining employment and the flow of money in the economy that will help to boost consumer confidence and get consumers spending again.
On the services of the Department, we have approximately 85,000 engaged and participating in various options offered by the Department, most notably, 25,000 plus who are involved in going back to education. In the long run, when one is in a recession like we are, one of the best options is to educate people as well as possible. Finland and Sweden had bank crashes - it must be said, not as bad as ours but nonetheless - in the 1980s and 1990s and found investing in education most important, and my Department is doing that.
The second aspect involves expanding all of the different opportunities we have mentioned. We have also issued a prior information notice, PIN, which is, essentially, to invite expressions of interest from organisations around the country, whether in the community, voluntary, public or private sectors, which may be interested in helping in the job and, ultimately, tendering for some of the work to help to get people back to work. As I told the Deputy previously, we also have been studying what has been happening in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, but particularly Sweden and Finland which had their own bank crashes and deep recessions, to learn from those who brought themselves back from a difficult position to a prosperous position currently.
