Results 24,861-24,880 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Invalidity Pension: Invalidity Pension (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Invalidity pension is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the contribution conditions. This department received a claim for invalidity pension for the person concerned. The medical evidence provided by the claimant in support of his claim was examined by a medical assessor who was of the opinion that the person...

Written Answers — Jobseeker's Allowance: Jobseeker's Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 10 February 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 and the...

Written Answers — Regulatory Impact Assessments: Regulatory Impact Assessments (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: My Department carried out one regulatory impact analysis (RIA) during the period in question, following a Government decision in October 2011, in relation to the proposed changes to defined benefit pension schemes included in the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012. The RIA was split into two parts: Part 1 dealt with the changes to the defined benefit model and in particular the proposal to...

Written Answers — Disability Allowance: Disability Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all the evidence, disallowed the appeal of the person concerned by way of summary decision. Under Social Welfare legislation, the decision of the Appeals Officer is final and conclusive and may only be reviewed by the Appeals Officer in the light of new evidence or new facts. Following the...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Following reductions in the Training and Materials Grant on Community Employment (CE), as announced in Budget, an initial review of the financial resources of all schemes was undertaken. Standard templates were developed and issued to all CE projects. Discussions were held between local CE Sponsors, including Moygownagh Enterprise CE Scheme, and the Departmental Officers responsible for the...

Written Answers — Rent Supplement: Rent Supplement (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Rent Supplement was temporarily suspended due to the failure of the person concerned to reduce their rent to the prescribed limits. The person concerned has now reduced her rent accordingly. In order to alleviate the concerns of the client and landlord, the Department has issued arrears by Exceptional Needs Payment for March and April. Rent Supplement for May will issue in due course.

Written Answers — Carer's Allowance: Carer's Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 6 February 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 and the...

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Customers who have their entitlement to domiciliary care allowance (DCA) reviewed are asked to provide relevant up-to-date medical evidence and details of the additional care needs of their child within 60 days. The information provided by the parent/guardian for review is assessed by a medical assessor and a decision is made based on the medical opinion they provide. Where payment is...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I would like to re-iterate the policy background to the necessary changes to State Pension provision. With increases in life expectancy, more people are living to pension age and living longer in retirement. The period for which an average pension will be paid will be greater than the period for which a pension is paid at present. This has obvious and significant implications in relation to...

Written Answers — Medical Certification Fees: Medical Certification Fees (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 310 and 311 together. As part of Budget 2012, it was announced that a reduction of 10% in the administrative cost of medical certification would be achieved this year. This is being achieved through a reduction in the number of medical certificates that doctors are required to issue. The frequency of certification by a person's doctor has been reduced in...

Written Answers — Dental and Optical Benefit Scheme: Dental and Optical Benefit Scheme (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Dental and Optical Benefit schemes have been limited to the provision of free dental and optical examinations since 1 January 2010. Treatments previously covered under the schemes, such as fillings, extractions, spectacles and lenses, have not been paid on claims approved on or after that date. The current treatments, associated fees and the total 2011 cost in each instance are detailed...

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 27 October 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 and the...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department 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 The Social Welfare Tribunal consists of a Chairperson and four ordinary members, two on the...

Written Answers — Invalidity Pension: Invalidity Pension (15 May 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 April 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 case will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will...

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I can assure the Deputy that all correspondence issuing from the Department's domiciliary care allowance section contains the staff member's name and their contact details.

Written Answers — Domiciliary Care Allowance: Domiciliary Care Allowance (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: Domiciliary care allowance (DCA) is now in payment in respect of 26,000 children, an increase of over 3,000 since the Department took over responsibility for the scheme from the HSE in April 2009. Spending on the Scheme and the respite care grant, which is automatically paid to all recipients, has increased from €138m to €145m between 2010 and 2011. Expenditure on both payments in 2012...

Written Answers — Rent Supplement: Rent Supplement (15 May 2012)

Joan Burton: The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source. The overall aim is to provide short-term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (10 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I initiated a study on the level and transparency of pension charges associated with different forms of private pension arrangements because of concerns that pensions schemes and their members have in relation to the level of charges applied to their schemes and the lack of transparency around some of these charges. As a result my Department, in conjunction with the Pensions Board and the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (10 May 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 — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (10 May 2012)

Joan Burton: I wish to acknowledge the valuable contribution made by Community Employment Projects such as the Centres for Independent Living (CIL) 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 in the grant for materials and training represents a...