Results 22,461-22,480 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 27 August 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 4 September 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Benefit Issues (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.66 billion in 2013. The social security rights of workers and their families moving within the EU are dealt...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Farm Assist Scheme Payments (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker’s allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace ‘Smallholders Unemployment Assistance’ for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure on the farm assist scheme of €99.45m in 2013. Payments received...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 9 September 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Payments (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The back to education allowance scheme (BTEA) supports persons who have been in receipt of a social protection payment to pursue full-time courses of education at second level and courses to higher diploma level in any discipline and to a Professional Diploma in Education (level 8 in National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) in third level colleges. Other postgraduate qualifications...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: There are currently twenty one Medical Assessors, including the Chief Medical Advisor (CMA) and Deputy Chief Medical Advisor (DCMA), who conduct medical assessments across the range of my Department's illness related schemes. Medical Assessors (MA) are fully qualified and experienced practitioners who provide a second opinion to that of the person’s own doctor. Their assessments...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Application Numbers (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work due to illness or injury and who satisfy the PRSI contribution conditions. It is essentially a demand-led scheme and the number of claims awarded and disallowed in any year reflects the extent to which the claims received satisfied the statutory conditions for receipt of invalidity pension. The information you...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Fraud Data (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Fraud and error surveys are an integral part of the Department’s overall approach to control and tackling social welfare fraud. The current rolling schedule of fraud and error surveys of social welfare schemes, as set out in the Fraud Initiative, is considered by the Department to be a very important tool for estimating the risk and developing policy measures to tackle fraud and error...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department’s control work is measured in terms of control savings. Control savings are used as a performance indicator for year-on-year activities and are an estimate of the value of the various control activities across the schemes in payment. They refer to future expenditure that would have been incurred but for this control work. Without this control work the social welfare...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Family Income Supplement Applications (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Family Income Supplement (FIS) is designed to provide support for people with families who are on low earnings. The person concerned is currently in receipt of FIS and recently applied to have their payment renewed. The renewal application has been processed and payment of FIS has been renewed for the person concerned in respect of family of 5 children, at the weekly rate of €341...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Regulatory Impact Assessment Data (1 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I have initiated six Bills since taking office, all of which have been enacted. Details of these Acts are set out in the following table. Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) are not ordinarily undertaken in relation to the package of measures announced in the annual Budget Day Statements or similar packages of measures. Accordingly, a RIA was not considered necessary in the case of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Budget 2014 Issues (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Revised Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure of over €189 million in 2013 on back to education allowance in relation to an estimated 23,350 recipients. The Deputy will be aware that the Expenditure Report 2013 published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform last December provides for additional new expenditure reduction measures of €440 million...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Insurance Yield (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 179 to 181, inclusive, together. The table below gives the estimated yield that would be achieved from increasing Employer PRSI from 10.75% to 12%, 13%, 14% and 15% respectively. The percentage increases in Employer PRSI are applied to income in excess of the thresholds specified by the Deputy. Threshold for higher Employer PRSI Rate of Employer PRSI...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Appeals (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The person concerned had been receiving Jobseeker’s Benefit until 20 July 2013. His claim was then examined to determine his entitlement to Jobseeker’s Allowance. This is a means-tested payment. His wife is in employment and after applying the relevant criteria to her income she is deemed to be earning in excess of the amount permitted under legislation. This decision has been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 12 July 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers have been received in the Social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 29 July 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred to an...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme Administration (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 185 to 188, inclusive, together. The JobBridge National Steering Committee met 6 times in 2013; 7 times in 2012 and 6 times in 2011. The participation of members of the National Steering Committee is not remunerated. They receive no allowances to cover expenses. The meetings are generally held in the Department of Social Protection's premises. There has...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Local Authority Work Placement Programme (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Gateway is a new initiative between my Department and county and city councils, the objective being to providing 3,000 part-time quality work placements by the end of the first quarter 2014. Participants will be randomly selected for this initiative by this Department from those on the Live Register for 24 months or more and currently in receipt of a jobseekers payment. Those agreeing to be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Local Authority Work Placement Programme (2 Oct 2013)

Joan Burton: Gateway aims to improve the employability and work readiness of participants by providing them with the opportunities to put their work skills into practice and to learn new skills to enable them to progress to work, further education or other development opportunities. In line with Pathways to Work, Gateway will provide, for those selected, opportunities to maintain work readiness and to...