Results 14,581-14,600 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Supplementary welfare allowance, which includes rent supplement, is administered by the community welfare service of the Department. The person concerned has been advised that she does not qualify for this allowance as she does not satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition (HRC). The person concerned does have a right of review and/or right of appeal. If she wishes to have the case reviewed...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The person concerned had a JobBridge eligibility form completed at his Social Welfare Local Office on the 20 January 2012, who deemed him eligible at that point in time. The host organisation was subsequently informed that the person concerned was approved to commence a placement under the JobBridge scheme. It is understood that the he commenced work with the organisation on 30 January...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the tabular statement. It should be noted that figures for 2012 represent one month's activity (January). Table A: Average weeks to award social welfare applications from 2007-2012 Average Weeks to Award (in weeks) Scheme 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012* Jobseeker's Benefit 2 2 3 2 2 2 Jobseeker's Allowance 3 5 6 6 5 5 One-Parent...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 293 to 295, inclusive, 297 and 298 together. Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) can be paid in respect of children under 16 years of age who have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: No changes have been made to the treatment of domiciliary care allowance for family income supplement (FIS) purposes. Payments under the domiciliary care allowance scheme have always been fully disregarded in determining entitlement for FIS and they continue to be fully disregarded.

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: My Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers and continuously strives to achieve the highest standard of customer service possible. The Department relies on the knowledge and expertise of its staff to deliver these services and, in view of their crucial role, the numbers of staff required to deliver a quality customer service is kept under constant...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The table details the number of permanent posts allocated to the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007. The significant increase in staff between 2011 and 2012 is due to additional posts assigned to the office during 2011, and the transfer of the Community Welfare Service to the Department in October 2011. In addition to the permanent posts detailed in the table, there were eight retired...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Pathways to Work policy which was launched by the Government on the 23rd of February incorporates the establishment of the new National Employment and Entitlements Service and commits to a new approach to the provision of services for unemployed people. The objective is to reduce the level of long term unemployment and to ensure those who are unemployed will be provided with appropriate...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The number of claims pending a decision on their eligibility at January 31st 2012 was 104,711 compared to a total of 118,682 at the same date in 2011. This is a reduction of almost 14,000 or more than 11% in claims pending a decision over the twelve month period. About half of the total reduction is in the areas of Jobseeker's Benefit and Jobseeker's Allowance. Scheme Claims Pending...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. In order to meet the challenge of increased volumes of new claims for its schemes, the department has embarked on a major programme of process redesign and modernisation, including the deployment of new computer systems. The deployment of new systems is a very resource intensive task and has, as a...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Medical assessments and medical reviews of eligibility for social welfare schemes are carried out either "in-person" or "at desk". In 2011, over 104,000 desk assessments/reviews and some 38,800 in-person assessments/reviews were carried out by the Department's medical assessors. All medical assessments and medical reviews are undertaken by fully qualified medical practitioners who have...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The domiciliary care allowance (DCA) is a monthly payment to the parent/guardian of a child with a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living and the child must be...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 Mar 2012)

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 and 2011 when the intake rose to 32,432 and 31,241...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department has a broad-ranging and comprehensive control strategy which aims to keep fraud and abuse to a minimum. Social welfare fraud undermines public confidence in the entire system as well as being unfair to other recipients of social welfare payments, taxpayers and business run on a legitimate basis. The effectiveness of control policies and activities are measured on an on-going...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) can be paid in respect of children under 16 years of age who have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, effectively full-time, so that the child can deal with the activities of daily...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: DCA is a monthly payment to the parent/guardian of a child with a disability so severe that the child requires care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be provided to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (13 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: The community services programme (CSP) co-funds the services delivered by around 425 community based not-for-profit enterprises across the State. Some €45.4 million has been allocated to the programme for 2012, which will support 2,800 people in full and part time employment. CSP funding is primarily intended to contribute to the wages costs of the service provider expressed as a fixed...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (13 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 26th September 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 27th...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (14 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: I acknowledge the valuable contribution made by Community Employment Projects such as the Galway Centre for Independent Living in providing a service to both participants and the community. However due to the current economic circumstances, this Department has had to find significant savings in the Budget for 2012. The reduction only applies to the grant for materials and training and...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (14 Mar 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 to 91, inclusive, together. Tús, the community work placement initiative introduced during 2011, will provide up to 5,000 short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year when fully operational. This initiative is being delivered through the network of local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta. Of the...