To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how his Department will increase the provision of support for lone parents and carers, to enable them to participate fully in the Enabling Success Strategy.

Lone parents and carers are two of the key target groups of ‘Enabling Success’.

The strategy commits to help these groups to make the transition towards and into the labour market, on a voluntary basis, through an innovative competitive pilot testing process.

This will be based upon an outcomes-focused, co-design approach which will develop, test and refine a number of small-scale initiatives for their effectiveness in helping all of the target groups, including lone parents and carers, to progress towards and into the labour market.

Examples of approaches that may warrant further exploration through the pilot testing model may include:

innovative ways to sustainably engage with people from the target groups at an early stage and on a voluntary basis;

engaging and supporting people from the target groups to improve their pre-employment and job skills in non-traditional settings;

providing bespoke, holistic mentoring support to people from the target groups to motivate and support them towards and into employment;

addressing issues of transport deprivation, isolation and accessibility, and;

lifting job-search horizons and improving labour mobility in rural settings, amongst others.

The strategy is committed to addressing the complex issues associated with economic inactivity in Northern Ireland and to help people in the target groups to overcome their personal labour market barriers by providing the tailored solutions required to move into employment.

The first key step in this process will be to improve engagement with people in the target groups, at an early stage and on a voluntary basis. This will be crucial for the success of the strategy. Once voluntary engagement has been secured, the second key step will be to refine and enhance the package of support mechanisms to assist individuals towards and into the labour market.