Results 16,081-16,100 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Carer's Allowance: Carer's Allowance (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. The average time taken to award a carer's allowance application is 28 weeks at present. This is not a satisfactory position. A major service delivery modernisation project is underway to improve the efficiency of administration of the carer's allowance scheme. This involves the deployment of information...

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: As the Deputy is aware, 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. Eligibility for the DCA is not based primarily on the medical or psychological condition, but on the resulting lack...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Social structures in Ireland are changing rapidly and the structures of our social support need to change to accommodate this. The decision to increase State pension age was taken in the context of changing demographics and the fact that people are living longer and healthier lives. The standardisation of State Pension age to age 66 is one of the measures planned which aims to improve the...

Written Answers — General Medical Services Scheme: General Medical Services Scheme (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Payments of medical certification fees in years 2010, 2011 and 2012 in this Department are as follows: Year 2010 2011 2012 (Quarter1 & Quarter 2) Certificates €25,803,418 €28,219,925 €10,462,477 Reports €2,908,376 €3,436,501 €2,098,413 Total €28,711,794 €31,656,426 €12,560,890 In Budget 2012, it was announced that a reduction of 10% of the administrative cost of...

Written Answers — Departmental Reports: Departmental Reports (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: I understand that this review is at advanced draft stage. When finalised, it will be submitted to me for consideration of its conclusions and recommendation and then considered by Government. It is my intention to engage in consultation with stakeholders once the report is published, which I intend to do. Responsibility for Community Employment Schemes transferred to the Department with...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 140 together. There have been no changes to the declaration section of the registration form used by the Department's employment service officers since the former FÁS employment service division transferred to the Department on 1st of January 2012. This is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The respite care grant is an annual payment of €1,700 made by my Department to some 77,000 carers. In June every year, the grant is paid to people in receipt of carer's allowance, carer's benefit, prescribed relative's allowance and domiciliary care allowance. Carers not in receipt of one of these payments may also qualify for the payment. In 2005, the respite care grant was extended...

Written Answers — Tax and Social Welfare Codes: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Creating jobs and tackling poverty are two of the key challenges that Ireland now faces. Against this background, it is essential that our tax and social protection systems play their part in addressing these issues. To this end, I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare last year and in line with its terms of reference, the Group is examining and will be making...

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 135, 143, 146 and 155 together. The domiciliary care allowance (DCA) scheme has been administered by the Department since April 2009. As the Deputies are aware, it 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...

Written Answers — Child Benefit: Child Benefit (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Child benefit is a universal payment that assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is around €2 billion in respect of some 1.15 million children. The Government is conscious that child benefit, as a universal payment, can be an important source of income for all families,...

Written Answers — Job Initiatives: Job Initiatives (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: As set out in the NEES project plan and the Pathways to Work policy documents published by the Department, the development and implementation of the Pathways to Work service model entails a multi-annual programme of work to the end of 2014. This programme requires the amalgamation and integration of three separate organisations and the design and implementation of new work processes and...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The number of community employment schemes is as follows: Palmerstown, County Dublin 2 Lucan, County Dublin 1 Clondalkin, Dublin 22 13 Saggart, County Dublin 1 Rathcoole, County Dublin 1 Newcastle, County Dublin - Community employment schemes provide a wide range of community based training and employment opportunities for participants. They also provide community based services and...

Written Answers — Carer's Allowance: Carer's Allowance (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: There are some 52,000 people in receipt of carer's allowance from my Department. Of these, almost 22,000 are getting half rate carer's allowance in addition to another social welfare payment. This means that a person with one child who is in receipt of a one parent family payment of €217.80 per week will receive an additional payment of €102 per week while a person in receipt of State...

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Responsibility for Community Employment Schemes transferred to the Department with effect from 1 January 2012. Since the transfer of Community Employment to the Department, DSP staff, including former FÁS staff, have been involved in a series of discussions with CE sponsors. These discussions have shown that while notionally focussed on activation, in reality Community Employment programmes...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. As part of the Department's programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The income disregard for the one parent family payment scheme was reduced from €146.50 to €130.00 per week with effect from 1st January 2012. All categories of participants on CE, including lone parents, have been gradually reducing over the last few years with the exception of the jobseeker's allowance category which has been increasing steadily since mid-2009 due to the changed...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: Tús is a community work placement initiative which aims to provide up to 5,000 short-term work opportunities for those have been fully unemployed and in receipt of a jobseeker's payment for at least 12 months, and who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance at the time of application. At the week ending the 1st June 2012, 4,386 participants and 234 supervisors have been engaged in the...

Written Answers — Employment Support Services: Employment Support Services (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: The establishment of the new National Employment and Entitlements Service which integrates employment and income support services is now underway within the Department and implementation of the various elements of the service is on going. The transfer of the employment and community services divisions of FÁS and the Community Welfare Service function from the HSE were completed on...

Written Answers — Rent Supplement Scheme: Rent Supplement Scheme (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 150, 152 and 154 together. There are currently approximately 93,800 persons in receipt of rent supplement, for which the Government has provided €436million for 2012. New maximum rent limits were introduced from January 2012 following analysis of the most up-to-date market data available. The emphasis of the review was to ensure that maximum value for money...

Written Answers — Illness Benefit: Illness Benefit (12 Jun 2012)

Joan Burton: I assume that the Deputy is referring to the question of introducing a scheme of statutory sick pay, whereby employers would directly meet the costs of sick absence for an initial period of illness. This is being considered in the context of the need to reform the social welfare system to bring it into line with practices in other countries in this area; the need to address the deficit in...