Results 15,261-15,280 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 14 January 2012. 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 27 March...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The above named was refused carer's allowance on two separate issues, firstly that she was employed outside the home for more than 15 hours per week, contrary to the conditions of eligibility for the scheme, and secondly on the grounds that the care recipient is not so disabled as to require full-time care and attention as prescribed in regulations. On 25 January 2012, she was notified of...
- Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The National Internship Scheme is currently 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 the last 6 months. Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, it is important that as employment opportunities become available they are taken up by those on the Live Register. The...
- Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: A financial review of Community Employment (CE) Schemes is underway. This review of CE Schemes has proved to be a valuable exercise for both the schemes themselves and for my Department. Given the volume and breath of the data being returned, the financial review of CE schemes will take longer than originally envisaged to complete. This will allow more time for schemes to engage with local...
- Written Answers — Public Relations Contracts: Public Relations Contracts (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: Details of the Department's usage of external public relations and communications companies over the past decade are outlined in the attached tabular statement. The Department spent a total of â¬8,700 over the past ten years on external public relations and communications consultants. Spending has been kept to this minimal level as the Department's press office deals with media queries and...
- Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The continued entitlement to domiciliary care allowance of the person concerned was reviewed in January 2012. The case was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who reviewed the entitlement based on the medical review form submitted and found that the child was no longer medically eligible for the allowance. The person concerned was notified of the decision on the 23rd...
- Written Answers — Mortgage Interest Supplement Payments: Mortgage Interest Supplement Payments (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department does not maintain statistics on the number of mortgage interest supplement applications received. However, the number of mortgage interest supplement recipients at the end of each year for the period in question is provided in the attached tabular statement. Statistics are not available on the number of recipients by Dublin postal code. Mortgage Interest Supplement Recipients...
- Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals: Domiciliary Care Allowance Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 12 January 2012. 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. When received, the appeal in question will be referred to an Appeals...
- Written Answers — Rent Supplement Scheme Applications: Rent Supplement Scheme Applications (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department does not maintain statistics on the length of time taken to process rent supplement applications or the number of applications received. However, I attach a tabular statement showing the number of rent supplement claims awarded during 2011 and during the first quarter of 2012. Rent Supplement Claims Registered and Awarded Period Claims Awarded 2011 63,878 Jan - Mar 2012 12,819
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Overpayments: Social Welfare Overpayments (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The total value of overpayments raised in 2010 amounted to â¬83.4m in respect of approximately 52,000 cases. Recoveries in that year amounted to â¬34.5m. The value of overpayments raised in the jobseeker's allowance scheme in 2010 amounted to â¬12.1m in respect of approximately 15,000 cases and recoveries amounted to â¬6.3m. My Department actively pursues the recovery of all...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Overpayments: Social Welfare Overpayments (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: Each of the Department's primary scheme areas and all local offices have a debt management function. The number of staff specifically involved in the collection of debt will depend on the claim-load and the level of overpayments in each of these areas. It is the responsibility of all Departmental officers to review the debt position of a customer at the claim stage, when establishing a...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department does not maintain statistics on the number of applications for supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) currently awaiting a decision. However more than 95% of basic SWA applications are decided and paid within a week.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that a total of 1,543 appeals across all schemes were received in the 3 week period 2 April to 20 April 2012. Based on returns for the first quarter of 2012, the average times taken to process appeals decided by summary decision is 22.4 weeks and 40.9 weeks for those requiring an oral hearing. These processing times are calculated from the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: On 20 April 2012 there were 301 jobseeker's benefit claims pending decision from claimants in County Kildare. The average processing time for jobseeker's benefit claims is 1.86 weeks.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that there are currently 69 domiciliary care applications scheduled for oral hearing. Oral hearings are granted at the discretion of the Appeals Officer based on the nature and circumstances of the case.
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer having fully considered all the available evidence allowed the appeal, of the person concerned, by way of summary decision. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer decision on 18th April 2012. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 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 Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The continued entitlement to domiciliary care allowance (DCA) of the person concerned was reviewed on 3rd April 2012. The case was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors, who reviewed the entitlement of the child based on the medical review form submitted and found that the child was no longer medically eligible for the allowance. The person concerned was notified of the...
- Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 129 and 130 together. In the past, income support for people of working age, including lone parents, has been passive in nature, with little systematic engagement by the State with the customer. This is now changing. Long-term welfare dependency and passive income support to people of working age are not in the best interests of the recipient, of their...
- Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (25 Apr 2012)
Joan Burton: The elimination of poverty is a key objective of Government. In this context, the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 includes a target to reduce the number of people experiencing consistent poverty. People are in consistent poverty if their income is below 60% of median income (at-risk-of-poverty) and they experience two or more items of basic deprivation, out of an 11 item...