The reason I did not present it was that I had to go abroad on the Thursday morning in question for a family funeral. I apologise for that.
The report was produced under the strategic management initiative. It is an independent, not a Government report. I made it clear that the suggestions for change — there are some worthy ones — should at least be considered and discussed with the social partners. I will do that as quickly as possible before we change any criteria.
I have already said that community employment has a valuable role to play. Labour market conditions have changed substantially since Partnership 2000 was first negotiated. Deputy Broughan was critical of my employment action plan. However, it is working like a dream after the first month. Perhaps the Deputy could have an open mind about some things. We might not give each other the benefit of considering other people's proposals during elections, but there are things which need to be changed.
One of the recommendations of that report is that there should be a bigger training element and that we should provide more job orientated training programmes rather than community employment for younger people under 25 years of age. We should discuss that. I have an open mind about what decisions we might make. I gave the Deputy a commitment on a previous occasion on this matter. The report was produced under the strategic management initiative. It is right that we should publish and debate it and that those who have an interest, particularly the social partners, should be involved in any discussions on it.
The fourth pillar came up recently with a good suggestion on the social economy. It suggested that at least 5,000 community employment places should be switched from community employment to a dedicated social economy. There are possibilities we should explore because there is a role for the social economy. Notwithstanding the huge success of the economy, there are a number of activities which could not be considered commercial by any stretch of the imagination. Much worthwhile activity, experience and training can be given to people who participate in the social economy. We should look at that in addition to the other suggestions in that report.