Results 21,841-21,860 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Payments (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a social assistance payment made to persons who are providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person/persons and whose income falls below certain limits. If a person is in receipt of another social welfare payment in their own right (other than unemployment payments or Supplementary Welfare Allowance but including state pension (contributory)) or is being...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Funding (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 480, 481 and 511 together. The Providing Equal Employment Routes (PEER) project was one of 14 disability activation projects (DACT), in the Border, Midlands & West region, jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Social Protection (DSP), from the end of 2012 to April 2015. The project was delivered by the Walkinstown...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Activation Projects (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 482 and 520 together. The Disability Activation Project (DACT) was jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Social Protection. A total of 14 projects were funded under this programme in the Border, Midlands & West region. The projects commenced at the end of 2012 and terminated on 30 April 2015. Expenditure amounted to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 483 to 485, inclusive, together. The Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability, and to this end, my Department provides a wide range of income and work related supports for people with disabilities. These supports include the wage subsidy scheme (WSS), the EmployAbility (supported employment)...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Work Placement Programmes (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Expenditure on work programmes and the number of participants increased significantly in recent years in a response to the high levels of unemployment. The numbers of places available on work programmes, including Community Employment (CE), Tús and Rural Social Scheme (RSS), have grown from 25,000 in 2010 to just over 39,000 in 2016 (56% increase). Tús was introduced - and the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: National Internship Scheme (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I propose to take Questions Nos. 487 and 500 together. A commitment was given in Pathways to Work to develop and implement a programme of evaluations to assess the impact of Pathways to Work initiatives. One of the first schemes selected for evaluation was JobBridge. The aim of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of the scheme in terms of its key objective of improving employment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobPath Implementation (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: JobPath is an employment activation service that supports people who are long-term unemployed and those most distant from the labour market to secure and sustain full-time paid employment. JobPath is one of the range of activation supports, including schemes such as CE and TÚS, catering for long-term unemployed jobseekers. In order to manage the allocation of activation support places...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I confirm that my department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person concerned on 29 February 2016. Some additional information in relation to the person’s application was requested by the deciding officer on 27 May 2016. Once the information is received the application will be processed and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Services for People with Disabilities (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: This Government recognises the importance of increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability and is committed to removing any barriers that remain, which prevent those persons with a disability from participating in employment. To this end, a key objective in Pathways to Work 2016-2020 is to progressively extend and intensify the pro-active engagement approach at Intreo...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I wish to advise the Deputy that the detailed data sought is not currently available. However, when an unemployed person applies and is approved for a Jobseeker’s payment, it is the aim of my Department to invite him or her to a Group Information Session, which will take place within 3 weeks of that approval date. Those aged under 25 years are then subject to their profile, scheduled...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Data (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the table. Persons under the age of 26 in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance by age and rate - 20 April 2016 Age Maximum Weekly Personal Rate of Payment Total by age €188 €144 €100 18 102 2,412 2,514 19 256 4,010 4,266 20 403 3,946 4,349 21 568 3,859 4,427 22 691 30 3,519 4,240 23 832 50 3,570 4,452...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Data (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The cost of increasing the rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance paid to those under 26 years of age, to the maximum rate of €188 per week is estimated at €148.4 million in a full year. This measure involves increasing the €100 rate by €88 per week and the €144 rate by €44 per week. The cost also includes proportionate increases for any qualified...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the table. Number of young persons in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Jobseeker’s Benefit and signing for credits for 6 months or more – 30 April 2016 Duration Jobseeker's Allowance Jobseeker's Benefit Credits Only 6-12 months 9,900 431 70 1-2 years 7,099 51 35 2-3 years 3,474 2 15 >3 years 5,391 2 13...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: Reduced rates for younger jobseeker’s allowance recipients were first introduced in 2009. Budget 2014 further extended the reduced rates to recipients under 26 years of age. This is a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency. To guard against the development of welfare dependency I believe that it is necessary to provide young jobseekers with a...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: JobsPlus Scheme (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The JobsPlus incentive is designed to encourage employers and businesses to focus their recruitment efforts on those who have been out of work for long periods or on young people seeking work. It provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers in the form of a monthly grant paid over two years with two levels of grant payable. The level of payment depends on the length of time...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Data (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the table. Number of young persons in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Jobseeker’s Benefit and Signing for Credits by County - 30 April 2016 County Jobseeker’s Allowance Jobseeker’s Benefit Credits Only Carlow 700 35 2 Cavan 688 34 1 Clare 750 55 3 Cork 2613 184 19 Donegal 2029 108 5 Dublin 8469 724 71...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan (YGIP) identifies planned activity levels for young people on a range of programmes, and estimates the share of the budget for these that will therefore be spent on young people. Running costs of the Intreo employment and benefits service cannot reasonably be allocated across age groups – given that, for example, individual...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The Government’s primary strategy to reduce youth unemployment is through policies to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth and the availability of productive employment for young people. This strategy has been succeeding; by Q1 2016 the level of employment is up by 159,000 from...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Guarantee (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: I want to assure the Deputy that the most recent figures supplied to him in the Parliamentary Question Number 90 of 6 April 2016 are correct. Unfortunately, when generating figures to response to the earlier Parliamentary Question Number 72 of 7 July 2015, a miscalculation was made resulting in an incorrect figure being supplied. The provision of this inaccurate figure is regretted.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Data (31 May 2016)

Leo Varadkar: The information requested by the Deputy is detailed in the table. Number of young persons under 25 in receipt of Disability Allowance - 30 April 2016 Customer Age Number of recipients of Disability Allowance 15 38 16 1,267 17 1,556 18 1,577 19 1,628 20 1,616 21 1,518 22 1,633 23 1,731 24 1,781 Total 14,345