Results 14,401-14,420 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: My Department has a wide ranging programme to combat social welfare fraud and abuse. The Fraud Initiative 2011-2013 sets out a range of actions to ensure an integrated approach to the prevention, deterrence and detection of social welfare abuse across the Department's services. Among the actions proposed is the roll-out of a new Public Services Card (PSC). The PSC will be issued following...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: While the primary responsibility for job creation rests with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, this Department has a role in supporting people from welfare to work. The Department already operates a diverse range of employment support measures designed to encourage and support social welfare recipients of working age to reduce their dependency on welfare payment and return...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: It should be noted that Budget 2012 did not impose any cuts to primary social welfare payments. Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single payment to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. These exceptional needs (ENP) payments are a vital...
- Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I am aware of the claim made by an individual at the Energy Action conference and I do not accept it. The publication of "Warmer Homes â A Strategy for Affordable Energy in Ireland" at the end of November 2011 proposes, for the first time, a framework that will combine national and geographically focused actions to improve the thermal efficiency of the housing stock, provide targeted...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I understand that the Deputy is referring to persons who make a claim to invalidity pension and carer's allowance, having previously been in receipt of illness benefit and carer's benefit respectively. Since January 2009 payment of illness benefit is limited to a maximum of 104 weeks (624 pay days) in most cases. There are a number of possible social welfare payments for which a customer may...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department which administers over 70 schemes. It processes in excess of 2.5 million applications per annum and issues over 85 million payments per year to 2.2 million customers and their families. I am fully conscious that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 16 June 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 10 December...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 26 November 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 16...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I confirm that an application for carer's allowance has been received from the above named. On completion of the necessary investigations relating to all aspects of her claim, a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome. Some 7,698 carer's allowance applications are registered and awaiting a decision at present. A major service delivery...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The over 80 allowance is an additional payment of â¬10 per week paid to people who are in receipt of a social welfare payment, including State pensions and who are over 80 years of age. It is not paid to qualified adults. The living alone increase is an additional payment of â¬7.70 per week made to people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments,...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I confirm that an application for carer's allowance has been received from the above named. On completion of the necessary investigations relating to all aspects of her claim, a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The average time taken to award an application in the quarter ended September 2011 was 17 weeks. Figures for the last quarter of 2011 and for January 2012 are unavailable as, due to the introduction of a new claims processing system in carer's allowance area, new claims are being processed on the new system while older claims are still being processed on the old system. As mentioned above,...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: Entitlement to carer's allowance is based on satisfying means, residency, full time care provision and medical suitability criteria. In the interest of fairness and equity, applications for carer's allowance are generally processed in order of the date the applications are received. The average time taken to award a claim to end of September 2011 was 17 weeks. This figure relates to the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) scheme operates from the beginning of June until the end of September each year. A person may qualify for payment BSCFA if he or she is in receipt of a social welfare or health service executive payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education or training course, and has household income...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the supplementary welfare allowance, child benefit, disability allowance and domiciliary care allowance appeals of the person concerned have been determined by an Appeals Officer and notification of the Appeals Officers' decisions issued to the person on 1 February 2012. An appeal in relation to carer's allowance is currently being...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme provides internship opportunities of either 6 or 9 months for unemployed individuals on the Live Register, in organisations in the private, public and community voluntary sectors. The scheme is limited to individuals who are currently on the Live Register and have been in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance/Benefit or are signing on for credits for at least 3 of...
- Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: There are currently 1043 sponsors of Community Employment schemes, with 23,300 places. I fully intend to maintain this level of activity during 2012. As announced in the Pathways to Work, one of the five strands of the programme is to provide greater targeting of activation places and opportunities for job seekers - particularly those who are over one year unemployed. My Department will...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 126 together. In the period since May 2008 some 952 staff have been redeployed to the Department to fill critical vacancies in local offices, Central Support Units and the Department's Inspectorate to deal with the increased volume of claims due to the downturn in the economy. Taking into account the numbers of staff who have left the Department...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare in June 2011 to address a number of specific issues regarding the operation and interaction of the tax and social protection systems. The Group has been tasked with recommending cost-effective solutions as to how employment disincentives can be addressed and better poverty outcomes achieved, particularly child poverty outcomes. The...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (1 Mar 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. A total of 17,758 carer's allowance applications were registered in 2011 and 13,762 were processed in the same period. Some 7,698 applications are registered and awaiting a decision at present. A major service delivery modernisation project is underway to improve the efficiency of administration of the...