Results 9,081-9,100 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities.  Its objective is to help long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce. There are currently just under 21,000 participants on Community Employment.  The budget for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Parents leave and benefit was introduced in 2019 and is available to parents of new babies born or children adopted from 1st November 2019. This benefit covers two weeks' paid leave from employment/self-employment for each parent within their child's first year, which can be taken as either two consecutive weeks or two separate weeks.  This benefit is in addition to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: All labour activation referrals, including JobPath, were suspended in March 2020 in accordance with public health guidelines. Engagement continued during this period by phone, email and other remote means, where possible. Referrals to contracted public employment services gradually recommenced from mid-June.  The pause in referrals to JobPath from March to June 2020...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: From January 2016 to the end of June 2020 total invoices amounted to €243.2m, of which €94m was in respect of referral fees and €149.2m for sustainment fees.  When recoupments of €7.8m are taken into account, actual total expenditure amounts to €235.4m.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: JobPath provides a case management based employment advice and counselling service to long term unemployed jobseekers. To date, some 61,626 jobseekers have commenced employment during their engagement period with JobPath.  39,531 had sustained employment for 13 weeks, 31,523 for 26 weeks, 25,471 for 39 weeks and 20,881 for 52 weeks. It should be noted that many clients who are currently...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: In the normal course of business the JobPath service providers will regularly submit non-engagement notifications to the Department. This is an administrative function which is not necessarily indicative of any particular outcome. In the majority of cases the client will be contacted and the appointment will be rescheduled. Some clients may have multiple...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Penalty rates were introduced in 2011 as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and to co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment.  The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, and this includes implementing sanctions for failure to engage where...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: There are a number of key features which enable my Department to monitor all aspects of the JobPath providers’ performance and ensure contract compliance. Every participant is provided with a service guarantee - a baseline level of service covering frequency of engagement, personal progression planning, geographic accessibility and in-employment support. As part of their contractual...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My officials hold regular meetings with both JobPath contractors as part of the normal contract management process. Since the onset of the Covid-19 restrictions these meetings have taken place via conference calls. Referrals to all activation services, including those provided by the JobPath providers, were suspended in March in accordance with public health guidelines.  My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I very much welcome the Jobs Stimulus package which sets out the Government’s substantial response to the Covid-19 crisis to provide an impetus to our economic recovery. My Department’s contribution to that impetus will be to support people without jobs.  My Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education and Training, Innovation and Research will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Employment CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. In general, the period of participation on CE is for one year.  However, CE participants who are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Community Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for prospective future employment. It helps to break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. A number of new conditions were introduced on CE in July 2017 to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Rural Social scheme (RSS) provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities.  Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and the participants have the opportunity to improve existing skills, or develop new skills,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Waiting Times (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested (where available) by the Deputy is detailed in the attached tabular statement.  Average time to award scheme claims at end of June 2020  Scheme Average weeks to award State Pension (Contributory) 3 Widow(er)'s Contributory Pension 1 State Pension (Non-Contributory) ...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Waiting Times (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.  The information requested by the Deputy regarding the waiting time for appeals in respect of each social welfare scheme is contained...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I would respectfully suggest that the Deputy should direct this question to my colleague, the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Pensions Reform (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The public policy and social issues in relation to funding a sustainable and adequate State pension system are complex.  Therefore, the Government is establishing a Commission on Pensions to examine a range of issues including contributions, calculation methods, sustainability, eligibility and intergenerational fairness.  The Terms of Reference for the Commission on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Inspections (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Since June 2012, the Department's social welfare inspectors have been undertaking control checks at airports and ports. Section 250 (16) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, provides the legal basis for these checks.  While the number of checks has increased significantly in recent months, since the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), this...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Inspections (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department does not have data sharing arrangements with any airports or ports.  It does not have access to travel data and nor does it have access to travel locator forms.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department has a number of measures in place to ensure that recipients of payments continue to reside in the State. These include compliance checks conducted by social welfare inspectors at ports and airports, as well as communications with customers, either written, electronic or face-to-face, to confirm that the customer remains resident in the State and continues to meet all other...