Results 5,261-5,280 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: ââand not people who have been in full-time education and who are only usingââ
- Data Protection. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Department was notified in April 2007 that a laptop computer belonging to the Comptroller and Auditor General had been taken from the offices of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The theft was immediately reported to the Garda. Some 16 months later, in early August 2008, the Department was informed that the laptop computer contained personal data relating to social welfare...
- Data Protection. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The laptop computer, which was the property of the Comptroller and Auditor General, was used in an office solely used by the staff of the Comptroller and Auditor General in the Department of Social and Family Affairs. I understand it was just the caretaking and security people who were informed that it was lost. However, no indication was given at that time that there was information on it....
- Data Protection. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Two relevant policies were introduced recently â the external party electronic data transfer policy and the portable computing device security policy. It is now Department policy to password protect all laptops and all new laptops are encrypted. Existing laptops are being recalled for encryption.
- Data Protection. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: There are not many laptops and, therefore, it is a priority. We are also engaged in a policy to restrict the usage of USB memory devices. Staff members who need such devices will be issued with encrypted devices and future usage will be restricted to them. Laptops are generally used to access centrally stored information. No client data is retained on laptops. It was a highly unusual...
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The national employment action plan is the Government's main welfare to work measure. It has been in operation since 1998 and proved successful in that period in assisting people on the live register back into employment. It is a preventive strategy that provides systematic engagement of the employment services with the unemployed. The operation of the plan involves referral of people on...
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I would like more interaction between FÃS and those on the live register. Currently, 1,620 interview slots are available and more use could be made of them. I did not outline the number of people who leave the live register when invited by FÃS for interview. That means FÃS has capacity to call more people than it anticipates turning up. Of the 40,000 clients referred to the agency by...
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The facilitators will not work with everybody. A significant number of people join the live register for a week or a month.
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: FÃS identifies the people who can best benefit from this process. The additional interaction with the facilitators and education can help to support that. The aim is to deploy a facilitator in all the major offices to do that work.
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Deputy is correct that the FÃS budget is â¬1 billion. Many training programmes are undertaken that do not involve people on the live register, including those for apprentices who have a particular difficulty currently.
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The agency has adapted the courses its offers. For example, staff in its Loughlinstown centre are working closely with companies in Cherrywood to ensure they can meet their employment needs.
- Employment Support Services. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I have met FÃS officials and I will continue to meet them. There is scope for more people to be interviewed and directed into training and I intend to pursue this with them.
- Social Welfare Code. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: In the recent budget, the Government had three main priorities, namely, to restore order and stability in the public finances, to increase productivity and competitiveness and to protect the most vulnerable in our country. Social welfare was prioritised in the budget. Next year, total funding for the Department of Social and Family Affairs will be â¬19.6 billion. This represents an...
- Social Welfare Code. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: All social welfare payments are exempt from the levy. The people to whom Deputy Enright referred, workers on low incomes, may qualify for FIS. Two measures are important. The first is the increase in the threshold by â¬10 per week to give a net gainââ
- Social Welfare Code. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: ââof â¬6, while the second is the extension of FIS to approximately 2,000 additional families. These measures should protect a number of people. In terms of families and children and the pressures of returning to school, an additional 18,000 families will qualify for the relevant allowance. Other details of the levy will only be seen in the Finance Bill when it is finalised by the...
- Social Welfare Code. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Targets were set during a time of plenty. While we do not have the same resources, it is still our aimââ
- Social Welfare Code. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: ââto meet those targets, as shown in the outlined figures. A certain target was set for 2012 and another for 2016, both of which are a long way off. We are working towards the targets. No matter my position, I have always valued independent advice and research and evidence-based data. It is important that this trend continues in my work.
- National Carers Strategy. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 142 together. The development of a national carers strategy is a key Government commitment in both the national partnership agreement Towards 2016 and the programme for Government. A working group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach is working on developing the strategy. My Department provides the secretariat to the working group, which also...
- National Carers Strategy. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: The Deputy will be well aware that, according to Towards 2016, the strategy was due for publication by the end of 2007, but there was a particular pressure on the Green Paper on Pensions at the time.
- National Carers Strategy. (21 Oct 2008)
Mary Hanafin: Simultaneously, the new arrangements for payments for nursing homes were being worked out.