Results 16,941-16,960 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton
- Written Answers — Rent Supplement Scheme: Rent Supplement Scheme (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: In February 2012, the person concerned was asked to complete and return review forms in relation to a review of rent supplement. He has also been issued with a reminder subsequent to the initial request but the forms have not been returned to date. The information supplied with the question is not pertinent to the review. When the necessary information has been received the Department can...
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department but it does not have a Board. Social Welfare Tribunal No remuneration is paid to members of the Tribunal. The Tribunal...
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department. The Social Welfare Tribunal consists of a Chairperson and four ordinary members. The Tribunal does not have a CEO. The...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The information requested is not immediately available in my Department but is being compiled at present and my officials will write to the Deputy when it is available.
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: I understand the Deputy's question relates to staff who are employed through employment agencies. My Department has limited sanction to recruit temporary clerical staff to cover absences of permanent staff on maternity leave, long-term sick leave or other statutory leave and also to provide cover for some staff availing of the shorter working year scheme. Temporary staff members are also...
- Written Answers — Public Private Partnerships: Public Private Partnerships (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection does not operate any public private partnerships.
- Written Answers — Departmental Contracts: Departmental Contracts (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The Department of Social Protection makes use of third party provision of services as a means of complementing its own operational capability. The particular areas of activity include disbursing payments to customers by An Post â over 43 million payments per annum; providing employment guidance services to the long-term unemployed; processing jobseeker and lone parent claims in 62 branch...
- Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative employment. It is a fundamental qualifying condition for these benefits that a person must be available for full-time work. The Family Income Supplement (FIS) provides income support for employees with families on low earnings. This preserves the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: I understand that the Deputy is referring to any decisions which might have been made within the Department to defer the appointment of staff or other administration expenditure in order to curtail the overall expenditure of the Department in 2012. No such decisions have been made. My Department continues to source staff to fill critical vacancies by way of redeployment, or transfer from...
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department but it does not have a Board. The cost to the Exchequer of each of the Agencies and Boards under the aegis of the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 404 and 405 together. Since March 2012, one member of staff in my Department, the Chief Medical Adviser, has been rehired on a temporary contract on a payscale of between â¬93,197 and â¬113,503. His salary is reduced to take account of the rate of his pension payment. In addition, the acting Deputy Chief Medial Adviser has been retained, on a temporary...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: Telecommunication services in my Department include fixed and mobile telephony, fixed and mobile data and telephonists. The total budget for these services in 2012 is â¬8,249,000.
- Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Jul 2012)
Joan Burton: Details of the number of sick days taken by staff in my Department in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are provided in the table that follows this reply. The details are not in the format requested by the Deputy because such detail is not available and could not be provided within the available timeframe. The table provides details of the number of staff who took sick leave in each of the specified...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Tax and Social Welfare Codes (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: Creating jobs and tackling poverty are two of the key challenges that Ireland now faces and it is essential that our tax and social protection systems play their part in addressing these issues. To this end, last year I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare with the aim of harnessing expert opinion and experience to examine a number of specific issues. These include making...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Redundancy Rebates (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 628 and 629 together. The purpose of the redundancy payments scheme is to compensate workers, under the Redundancy Payments Acts, for the loss of their jobs by reason of redundancy. Compensation is based on the worker’s length of reckonable service and reckonable weekly remuneration, subject to a ceiling of €600.00 per week. All payments are...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Unemployment Levels (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: The unemployment rate is currently 14.7% and while it has stabilised after several years of increases, the rate remains unacceptably high. It is of additional concern that long-term unemployment accounts for 61% of total unemployment, and for almost half of all unemployment among young people. In the first instance, the Government’s primary strategy to tackle long-term unemployment is...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Sick Pay Scheme Reform (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: For a number of compelling reasons, the Government is considering the introduction of a scheme of statutory sick pay at this time – as a measure to help in addressing the growing deficit in the Social Insurance Fund; to limit progression from short-term illness to long-term illness or disability; and also to bring Ireland into line with practices in other countries in this area. The...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Numbers (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: Young people, typically, suffer disproportionately from job losses in recessions as they tend to have entered employment more recently, are more likely to hold temporary contracts and to be employed in cyclically sensitive industries than older workers. The Quarterly National Household survey indicated that there were 56,000 young unemployed aged 15-24 in Q1 2012, made up of 15,000 aged 15-19...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Gender Recognition (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 633 and 635 together. The Gender Recognition Advisory Group (GRAG) was established in 2010 to advise the Government on the legislation required to give legal recognition to the acquired gender of transgender persons. The Report of the Group, which recommends a scheme for the legal recognition of transgender persons, was approved by the Government on 12...
- Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Numbers (18 Sep 2012)
Joan Burton: Young people, typically, suffer disproportionately from job losses in recessions as they tend to have entered employment more recently, are more likely to hold temporary contracts and to be employed in cyclically sensitive industries than older workers. The Quarterly National Household survey indicated that there were 56,000 young unemployed aged 15–24 in Q1 2012, made up of 15,000...