Results 26,941-26,960 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Circular Letter 0076-2011 issued by the Department of Education and Skills to the Chief Executive Officers of the VECs is clear that those who met the VEC criteria are eligible for free training, including those on Community Employment (CE) programmes. "Literacy is fundamental to personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability. For the purposes of this circular,...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: There are two back to work schemes available to assist people on certain social welfare payments who wish to become self-employed: namely the back to work enterprise allowance (BTWEA) and the short term enterprise allowance (STEA). The BTWEA is designed to provide a monetary incentive for people who are dependent on certain social welfare payments to develop a business while allowing them to...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Community Employment programme provides a very important and valued contribution to social employment, training and progression for unemployed people. Furthermore, many Community Employment schemes provide vital community services right across the country. There are currently 1,143 CE schemes in operation nationally with 23,300 participants. The overall estimated budget stands at...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Self-employed persons are liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 4% which entitles them to access long-term benefits such as State pension (contributory) and widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's pension (contributory). Ordinary employees who have access to the full range of social insurance benefits pay Class A PRSI at the rate of 4%. In addition, their employers make a PRSI...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (26 Jan 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 Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested in respect of carer's allowance applications is contained in the table. Year Number Received Number awarded Number refused Pending at year end 2010 18,212 8,769 6,972 3,769 2011 17,259 7,467 5,227 7,765 The average time taken to award a claim for carer's allowance for the quarter to end September 2011 was 17 weeks. The average time to award for the last quarter...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested is provided in the table. Claims received Claims cleared Claims awarded Claims disallowed Claims pending at year end 2009 7,475 8,364 5,431 2,933 1,541 2010 8,774 7,614 3,597 4,017 2,701 2011 14,621 10,508 * 1,742 * 4,327 6,814 1. The figure shown for claims awarded and disallowed in 2011 refers to those dealt with from June – December 2011 only 2. A breakdown...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department has been accepting new claims for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) since 1 April 2009. Statistics relating to the allowance for the period prior to April 2009 are a matter for the HSE, the previous administrators of the scheme. The number of applicants for DCA that were received, awarded and refused in each year from April 2009 to 2011 is set out in table 1. Table 1 -...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The statistics requested are in the tabular statement. Disability Allowance Year No. of Applications No. Allowed No. Disallowed 2009 20,794 10,179 9,677 2010 21,409 8,306 10,316 2011 24,264 9,246 14,116 The number of disability allowance applications pending at the end of December 2011 was 6,999.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: In 2010, total overpayments amounted to €83.4m across approximately 52,600 cases, representing 0.41% of total Departmental expenditure. Overpayments arising from activity suspected as fraudulent that year amounted to less than 0.1% of total Departmental expenditure, with a value of €25.9m across approx. 15,900 cases. The table gives the breakdown of the classification of 2010...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I have attached, for your information, a table which sets out the number of recipients in each of the main weekly schemes managed by my Department at of the end of each year from 2008 to 2011 and the percentage variances in recipient numbers year on year. Type of Payment 2008 Change 2009 over 2008 2009 Change 2010 over 2009 2010 Change 2011 over 2010 2011 State Pension (Contributory)...

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 5 together. Rent supplement provides short-term support for eligible persons living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Since 2005, rent supplement expenditure has increased from €369 million to a provisional outturn of...

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: It was a joint operation between the two Departments.

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: A similar rent review took place in 2009 when Deputy Ó Cuív was Minister. The ultimate effect of that was an overall reduction in rents of approximately 4%, which effected significant savings. It is important to note that there are people at work on low wages who rent and there are students who rent. If the Department, as probably the single biggest individual player in this area, is a...

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Deputy Daly stated that a particular woman in Wicklow is paying €850 per month in rent. I do not know where in Wicklow the person lives and cannot, therefore, inform the Deputy of the rent allowance for that area. The Deputy has stated that the woman's rent allowance has been capped at €625 per month. I suggest she take up this matter with the relevant departmental officer. Community...

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Yes.

Social Welfare Benefits (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I refer to Deputy Ó Cuív's comments on top-ups, to which Deputy Clare Daly also referred earlier. Essentially, top-ups involve false declarations of what is the rent. Any top-ups such as those to which Deputy Daly referred should be reported to the Department because, in effect, they constitute an abuse of the tenant in which a social welfare income is being paid and a rent contribution...

Community Employment Schemes (26 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 and 4 together. Community employment, CE, is a valuable resource in the provision of a range of services to communities. However, it is acknowledged that its effectiveness in terms of labour market progression is somewhat limited. The report, Supports and Services for Unemployed Jobseekers: Challenges and Opportunities in a Time of Recession, published in...