Results 14,761-14,780 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I refer the Deputy to my response to his question PQ29016 of 27 May 2021. In accordance with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) rules, civil and public servants on secondment to other bodies maintain their terms and conditions of employment including salary during their period of secondment. Any additional payments made during that period are non-pensionable. With...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the tables. The data in these tables refer to recipients of the selected social welfare payments. While it is not possible to report directly on the number of households that received the selected payments, due to how these payments are operated, for these particular schemes the household total correlates strongly to the individual...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Low Pay Commission (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government 'Our Shared Future' contained a commitment to request the Low Pay Commission to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government. The Low Pay Commission is the responsibility of Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and, as such, the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table. Due to the large number of schemes administered by my Department, a number of operational systems are in place. As a result, for the majority of schemes, recipient numbers for June 2021 will not be available until the end of the month. To the week ending 13th June 2020, 312,028 people have received Pandemic Unemployment...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Expenditure (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Travel and Subsistence paid to the staff of my Department for the period 1 January 2020 to date amounts to €1,476,162. Expenses incurred by employees of my Department are wholly and exclusively for Departmental business.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Reviews (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The details requested by the Deputy are listed as follows. The list covers both reviews undertaken under the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) programme and those initiated by the Department. - JobsPlus Evaluation (2020) - IGEES Social Impact Assessment Series: Domiciliary Care Allowance (2019) - IGEES Spending Review: Review of Carer’s Supports (2019) - IGEES...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Back to Education Allowance Scheme (BTEA) is designed to support second chance education. It enables eligible persons to pursue education and to continue to receive their weekly income support for the duration of a course of study. The main focus of the BTEA is to assist qualifying applicants to improve their educational qualifications and improve their prospects of gaining employment....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Department is not in a position to say how many parents avail of the parents leave in a specific week or month as this data is not collated. Data on the number of claims to parents benefit that have been awarded each month in the period January 2020 to date is available and is set out in the table. It should be noted that while a claim may be awarded in one month, the leave and benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Schemes (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Artist Pilot Scheme was launched in mid-2017 for professional writers and visual artists as part of the whole of Government Creative Ireland programme while I had Ministerial responsibility for the Arts. A key feature of the initiative under the Jobseeker's Allowance scheme is that it acknowledged the status of self-employed visual artists and writers and gave them a 12 month window to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Child benefit is a monthly payment and is paid in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16, or to the age of 18 if they are in full-time education or have a disability. In May 2021, it was paid to 637,260 customers in respect of 1,212,099 children. I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The cost of making a double payment of Child Benefit in September 2021 would be an additional €176 million. There is no provision in the 2021 Further Revised Estimate to make such a payment.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 874 to 876, inclusive, together. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to some 1,506 schools and organisations benefitting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care. A recipient of full rate CA is entitled to claim an increase for a qualified child (IQC) where: - the child normally...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that two appeals by the person concerned were registered in that office. The Domiciliary Care Allowance appeal was received on 16th March 2021 and the Carers Allowance appeal was received on 19th April 2021. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Irish Sign Language (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: The Citizens Information Board (CIB), a statutory body under the aegis of my Department, provides funding to The Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS) - the national service for the development, promotion and delivery of sign language interpreting services to the Deaf community in Ireland. The Remote Interpreting Application was a six-month pilot project developed by CIB and SLIS, and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Data (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives individuals the right to request a copy of their personal data. My Department does not withhold personal data, unless the withholding of data is provided for and permitted by Articles 12(5) or 15(4) of the GDPR or Section 60 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: On 1stJune Government announced it's National Economic Recovery Plan to support the reopening of the country as it recovers from Covid-19. Government acknowledges that some sectors will continue to be impacted and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme will be extended beyond 30 June 2021 for existing claimants who continue to be eligible for payment. To allow as much time as...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: On April 1st, Parent’s Leave and Benefit was extended from 2 weeks for each parent to 5 weeks as announced in Budget 2021. The period during which this leave can be taken was also extended from 12 to 24 months so it can be taken up to a child's second birthday or within two years following adoption. This allows working parents to spend more time with their children during these...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Funding (15 Jun 2021)

Heather Humphreys: JobPath providers have their own discretionary funds available to pay for training or other interventions; the decision to approve or reject any request for funding is solely at the discretion of the JobPath provider. They will take into account the duration, cost and relevance to the customer’s job goal preferences. The prevalence of employment opportunities in the sector will also...