Results 23,901-23,920 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Applications (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The disability allowance (DA) application in respect of the person in question was refused on medical grounds and the person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 15 November 2013 and of his right to seek either a review of this decision or to appeal the decision to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office. This decision was made by a deciding officer, based upon the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Eligibility (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The total expenditure for ENPs in 2013 was in excess of €35 million. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received in respect of the child concerned on the 19th July 2013. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors whose opinion was that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 4th September 2013 advising of the decision to disallow the application. The person...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to Education Allowance Eligibility (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The back to education allowance (BTEA) scheme is designed to support second chance education. It enables eligible persons to pursue approved education courses that leads to a higher qualification than that already held and to continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to conditions. BTEA covers full-time second level courses and third level courses to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has disallowed the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision on 8th January 2014. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Labour Market Issues (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: In November 2012, following a public procurement competition, the Department engaged the London based Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (Inclusion) to provide expert advice and assistance with the design and delivery of an employment service model (“JobPath”). Inclusion is the UK’s leading not-for-profit company dedicated to tackling disadvantage and promoting...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Welfare Services (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: A key objective of the transfer of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive to the Department on 1st October 2011 was to provide a streamlined and consistent service to the customer. As part of this process and to support the Department’s activation commitments under the Pathways to Work Programme and the development of Intreo services nationally, it has been...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Department has used both the National Council for the Blind in Ireland (NCBI) and Eircom for switchboard staff in each of the last five years. The total number of telephone calls managed through the switchdesks operated by these switchboard staff in 2013 was 513,255. The Department is embarking on a major overhaul of its telephony systems which will extend, as far as is practical, the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence including that adduced at oral hearing, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision on 2nd January 2014. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal from the person concerned was registered in that office on 19th August 2013. The person concerned was asked to furnish any further medical evidence that she wished to submit in support of her appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. This information was received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 4th November 2013...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Places (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: There has been no change to the contractual arrangement for Community Employment participants have always been issued for a maximum period of 12 months. Persons who may be eligible for 3 years participation will receive three consecutive annual contracts to cover the relevant period provided they remain eligible to remain on the programme at the end of each contract and their CE Sponsor...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: Under social welfare legislation all recipients of rent supplements are required to make a minimum contribution towards their rent; additionally a person’s means are taken into account when assessing the amount of rent supplement payable. The person concerned is receiving her full entitlement to rent supplement of €381.30 per month towards the rent of €520.00 for her...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: Where a jobseeker’s allowance customer finds work for a period of time and makes a repeat claim within 52 weeks of the previous claim, the second claim is treated as a linked claim, i.e. as a continuation of the previous claim, rather than as a new claim. The new Budget 2014 provisions relating to jobseeker’s allowance, for those aged 18 to 24 years of age and for 25 year...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 4th December 2013, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence including that adduced at oral hearing, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision on 2nd January 2014. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 5th December 2013, who has decided to convene an oral hearing on 23rd January 2013 to consider the matter. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Appeals (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 4th December 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: Money Advice and Budgeting Service Issues (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) under the aegis of the Citizens Information Board, provides a high quality personal service to assist people who are over indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems, in particular those on low incomes and people living on social welfare payments. The following table provides details of the number of applications for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rental Accommodation Scheme Administration (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are currently approximately 80,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Review (15 Jan 2014)

Joan Burton: The review of the Domiciliary Care Allowance scheme (DCA), which was published in April 2013, makes a number of recommendations in relation to the operation of the scheme. An implementation group, comprising officials from the Department of Social Protection, other relevant departments/ relevant bodies and parent/representative groups was established to action the administrative...