Results 12,641-12,660 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the disability allowance claim of the person concerned was disallowed following an assessment by a Medical Assessor who expressed the opinion that he was medically unsuitable for the allowance. An appeal was registered on 02 November 2011 and in accordance with the statutory procedures the relevant department papers and the comments of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the invalidity pension claim of the person concerned was disallowed following an assessment by a Medical Assessor who expressed the opinion that she was medically unsuitable for the allowance. An appeal was registered on 14 November 2011 and in accordance with the statutory procedures the relevant department papers and the comments of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received on 6 March 2010. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for DCA. A letter issued on 22 April 2010 advising of the decision to refuse the allowance. The person concerned subsequently lodged an appeal against this decision and she was...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in this case. There has been a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007 when the intake was 14,070 to 2010 when the intake rose to 32,432. This has significantly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new family income supplement (FIS) claims at the end of October is 20 weeks. The waiting time for renewal FIS claims is currently between 10 – 11 weeks. At...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the Jobseeker's Allowance and Supplementary Welfare Allowance appeals from the person concerned have been referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing in these cases. There has been a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007 when the intake was...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: When the JobBridge Scheme was launched on 1 July temporary measures were put in place to facilitate Work Placement Programme (WPP) participants, who were eligible, to convert their WPP placements into JobBridge internships. This became known as the WPP Conversion Process. The following two rules applied to this conversion process: · If a participant was on a WPP for less than four months...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The estimate for my Department in 2011 provides for expenditure of over €1.1 billion on the one-parent family payment (OFP). For the purposes of one-parent family payment, there is no entitlement where earnings exceed a threshold of €425 gross per week. Where earnings are less than €425, the first €146.50 is disregarded and half of the balance is assessed as means. The rate of...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the evidence, including that adduced at oral hearing, has allowed the appeal of the person concerned. The person concerned has been notified of the decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: From 1 January 2011 policy and funding responsibility for FÁS functions in relation to employment and community employment services was transferred to the Department of Social Protection in accordance with the provisions of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010. FÁS remains responsible for the day to day operation of community employment in accordance with the terms of a...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Community Employment is an employment and training programme which helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a work routine. The programme assists by enhancing and developing a person's technical and personal skills which can then be used in the workplace. The criteria for participating on community...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: To date a total of 2,712 individuals have commenced a JobBridge internship throughout Ireland and, of these, 48 are based in County Carlow. The number of Tús placements filled nationally to date is 1,795 of which 16 are in County Carlow.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Following on from the transfer of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Services Executive (HSE) to the Department of Social Protection, with effect from Saturday 1st October, legislation was commenced which provides that appeals for supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) will be made to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Up to now, the legislation provided for a 2 step process, first...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: My officials have made contact with the company concerned and await receipt of the relevant claim form. Redundancy rebate claims received at the beginning of May 2011 are currently being processed.

Written Answers — Departmental Functions: Departmental Functions (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Reference to the transfer of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive to the Department of Social Protection has been included in recent Parliamentary Questions for information purposes only and does not relate to any individual case. The reality is each application for mortgage interest supplement is determined by an officer of the Department taking account of the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: Statistics are not available on the number of mortgage interest, rent supplement and basic supplementary welfare applications received each month or the outcome of those applications. However, I can confirm that to date in 2011 (18th November) a total of 85,913 basic supplementary welfare allowance claims, 57,207 rent supplement claims and 9,069 mortgage interest supplement claims have been...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The information requested in respect of carer's allowance applications is contained in the table. Year Average time to award Number awarded Number refused 2008 15 weeks 15,457 5,015 2009 9 weeks 10,730 5,776 2010 8 weeks 8,769 6,972 2011 (to end Sept) 14 weeks 5,685 3,921 These figures relate to the initial decision made on each application. I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: An increase for qualified adult (IQA) is payable to recipients of certain benefits, allowances and pensions in respect of a qualified adult (their spouse, partner or civil partner) who is being wholly or mainly maintained by them, and where the qualified adult's personal means from any source(s) do not exceed a weekly means limit. As part of the Department's Control Strategy, scheme...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department which processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and makes payments to some 1.4 million people every week. However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them. When a customer makes an application for...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (23 Nov 2011)

Joan Burton: In the period since May 2009, in excess of 900 staff have been assigned to my Department to fill critical vacancies and additional posts that were approved to deal with the significant increase in claims for the various schemes operated by the Department. The staffing needs of the Department are continuously reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising. While...