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The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me as Chief Executive of the Training and Employment Agency to reply to your questions about the New Deal and the recent consultation on long term unemployment in Northern Ireland.
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No 22735
Northern Ireland has been allocated £140 million from the £3.5 billion being raised from the Windfall levy to fund the New Deals for young people and the long term unemployed. We estimate that 13,000 young people will enter the Gateway in the first full year of operation beginning in April this year, of which 7,000 are likely to take up one of the four New Deal options. Provision is also being made for a further 3,000 young people in the New Deal age category who would otherwise have benefited from existing training and employment programmes. Resource transfers for the latter will be made from existing programmes during 1998/99. In addition we estimate that approximately 3,000 people aged over 25 and unemployed for more than 2 years will be eligible for subsided employment.
The allocation for the New Deal for the disabled has yet to be apportioned. The allocation for Lone Parents is mentioned below.
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No. 22743
Work on the review of long-term unemployment was temporarily overtaken during the Autumn by the overriding priority of the New Deal. We have been examining how existing programmes for the long term unemployed could be best aligned with the New Deal while taking account of the outcome of last year's consultation exercise. I expect an announcement will be made shortly on the future shape of existing programmes and services.
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No. 22744
An additional £9 million has been allocated to Northern Ireland to fund the New Deal for Lone Parents. From April this year, Lone Parents making a first-time claim for Income Support and whose youngest child is of school age will be offered advice and support to overcome the barriers preventing them from taking up employment. All other Lone Parents will be able to avail of this opportunity from October 1998. Personal Advisers will help Lone Parents to identify suitable after-school childcare services, advise them on in-work benefits and where appropriate, arrange pre-employment training as well as providing an in-work support service to ease the transition from Welfare to Work. Similar opportunities for the sick and disabled who are able to take up employment will mirror the arrangements in Great Britain. We will ensure that the launch of this initiative in Northern Ireland will coincide with national implementation.
I hope you find this reply helpful.