Results 26,961-26,980 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Departmental Schemes: Departmental Schemes (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Tús, the community work placement initiative introduced during 2011, will provide short-term, quality work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year when fully operational. As of 20 January 2012, 2,395 persons are engaged with 5,000 to be employed when Tús is fully operational later this Spring. Tús is focused on those people who are on the live register for 12...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that it has not received an appeal from the person concerned. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 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 — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: All CE schemes nationally including those in the Dublin Central area have been contacted and have received material relating to Community Employment review.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 20th June 2011. This application was referred to one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on 19th September 2011 advising of the decision. In the case of an application which is refused on medical grounds, the applicant may submit additional...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 3rd January 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 on 5th...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 19th December 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred in due course to an...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The average time taken to award a claim for carer's allowance in the quarter ending Sept 2011 was 17 weeks. The average time to award for the last quarter of 2011 is unavailable as, due to the phased introduction of a new claims processing system in the carer's allowance area, new claims are being processed on the new system while older claims are still being processed on the old system. As...

Written Answers — Community Employment Schemes: Community Employment Schemes (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Community Employment schemes provide 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. I have protected the number of places on CE so that...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received on 12 January 2012. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Upon receipt of this opinion, a decision will issue to the customer. The Deputy should note that, currently, it can take up to nine weeks to process a DCA application.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Department does not maintain processing times in relation to files prepared for submission to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO). However, according the SWAO annual reports, of the time taken to process appeals, the number of weeks attributable to the Department were as follows - 2006 – 8 weeks 2007 – 10 weeks 2008 – 9 weeks 2009 – 10.5 weeks 2010 – 12.7 weeks 2011 –...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 31 August 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 on 16 January...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 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 — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 2 December 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 on 5 January...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: As per the Budget 2012 announcement, payment of two qualified child increases per child where the person is on a Community Employment scheme and in receipt of One Parent Family Payment, Deserted Wife's Benefit/Allowance or Widow(er)s Pension will be discontinued for NEW and EXISTING recipients. The actual child increase payment that will cease is from the CE payment. The child allowance under...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 30th November 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred in due course to an...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Fraud: Social Welfare Fraud (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: My Department accepts reports of possible fraud from members of the public in relation to the operation of its schemes and uses both a dedicated phone number and a facility on the Department's website for this purpose. Members of the public are asked to provide as much detail as possible about the case they are reporting and they can do so anonymously. All anonymous or confidential reports...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: At the end of December 2011 there were approximately 28,876 people in receipt of a weekly family income supplement (FIS) payment of which 2,976 (10%) were recorded as public servants. The number includes those working in the civil service and the wider public service. A separate breakdown of those public servants in receipt of FIS by grade or occupation is not currently available, as such...

Written Answers — EU Council Meetings: EU Council Meetings (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Eures (European Employment Service ) is the Commission programme to facilitate the free movement of Labour throughout the European Union and the European Economic area. It is organised in every Member State by the Public Employment Service of that State. Some Member States with land borders and a high degree of mobility across these Borders also have regional Eures Partnerships which aim to...

Written Answers — Anti-Poverty Strategy: Anti-Poverty Strategy (25 Jan 2012)

Joan Burton: Creating jobs and tackling poverty are two of the key challenges that we face. As reflected in the commitments contained in the Programme for Government, it is essential that our tax and social protection systems play their part in addressing these issues and ensure that work is worthwhile. To this end, I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare last year to address a number...