Results 27,281-27,300 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned was in receipt of illness benefit from 21 December 2007 at the maximum personal rate with an additional half-rate payment for a dependent child. On 15 September 2011 she was assessed by a departmental medical assessor who expressed the opinion that she was capable of work. Her illness benefit payment was stopped from 23 September 2011. This is in line with normal...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

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. Illness benefit is a short-term payment for people who are incapable of work due to illness or injury. Since January 2009 payment of illness benefit is limited to a maximum of 104 weeks (624 days) in most cases. Currently, letters are...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, my Department makes exceptional needs payments (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which cannot be met out of people's weekly income. In addition to the payment of ENPs, my Department also makes urgent needs payments, which can be made to persons who would not normally be entitled to SWA. The aftermath of...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The total estimate, as published, for expenditure on schemes services and administration, in the Department of Social Protection, in 2011 is €20.62 billion. The outturn will not be available until early in the New Year as payments will continue to be made up to the end of this month.

Written Answers — Social Inclusion: Social Inclusion (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 (NAPinclusion) identifies a wide range of targeted actions and interventions to achieve the overall objective of reducing consistent poverty. My Department is currently preparing the third annual report on social inclusion which will outline progress in implementing the action plan over the two year period from January 2009 to December...

Written Answers — Work Placements: Work Placements (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: There are currently no plans to review the JobBridge criteria, which limits participation to individuals who are currently on the Live Register. Given the scale of the unemployment crisis, the key objective of labour market policy is to keep those on the live register close to the labour market and prevent the drift into long-term unemployment. This will ensure that live register members...

Written Answers — Pensions Provision: Pensions Provision (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: I refer the Deputies to my reply to questions numbers 99, 89 & 102 on 1 December 2011 set out as follows. The position remains unchanged. The Labour Court recommended in July 2008 that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for community employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors, and that such a scheme should be adequately funded by FÁS. Notwithstanding the...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The procurement of services is essential to support the Department in providing high quality service to the public in a cost effective and efficient manner and is governed by a comprehensive regulatory, legal and procedural framework. The Department engages consultants (individuals or organisations) to provide intellectual or knowledge based services, e.g. expert analysis and advice,...

Written Answers — Ministerial Appointments: Ministerial Appointments (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: In line with a commitment in the programme for Government, I established an advisory group on tax and social welfare in June of this year. Members of the group have expertise in economic and social policy as well as other relevant areas and include a mix of experience and expertise from within and outside the public sector. The group has been tasked with recommending cost-effective...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned was refused carers allowance in August 2011 on the grounds that the care recipient is not so invalided or disabled as to require full time care and attention as laid down in legislation. The person in question requested a review of the decision and submitted additional medical evidence in support of her claim. A decision on the review will be made shortly and the person...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and decisions made on entitlement as quickly as possible. The average waiting time for new family income supplement (FIS) claims at the end of November is 17 weeks. The waiting time for renewal FIS claims is currently 8 - 9 weeks. At the end of November...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: As of November 25th 2011, there were 30,462 persons on the live register signing for Jobseeker Credits but not receiving a payment from my Department.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: Individuals, including recipients of One Parent Family and Disability payments, who are employed on a Community Employment scheme and commenced that Community Employment placement before the 16 January 2012, will not be considered as a new applicant in the event that they are renewing their contract or receiving a Community Employment extension. They will therefore not be affected by the...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: There is no change to the payment of the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) for existing customers on 1 January, 2012. Phasing arrangements for existing OFP customers are being considered. For new claimants, from April, 2012, the upper age limit of the youngest child will be 12 years. This is being reduced on a phased basis – to age 10 in 2013 and then to age 7 in 2014.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: As a result of the decision to withdraw sections 8, 9 and 10 from the SW Bill 2011, the age limit for receipt of domiciliary care allowance (DCA) remains at 16 years. As the child referred to is over 16 years of age, DCA is no longer payable.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Dec 2011)

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 when the intake rose to 32,432. This has significantly...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Code: Social Welfare Code (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned is in receipt of a mortgage interest supplement at the rate appropriate to their circumstances.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Appeals: Social Welfare Appeals (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: This domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was reviewed by one of the Department's Medical Assessors who found that the child was no longer medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on 12th October 2011 informing the person concerned of this decision and she subsequently lodged an appeal. The application will now be reviewed by another medical assessor and will be sent to the Social...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The position is as outlined in reply to Question No. 36 of 8th of December 2011.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Dec 2011)

Joan Burton: The person concerned applied for mortgage interest supplement in September 2011. A decision will be made in this case on receipt of all the documentation requested.