Results 17,861-17,880 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Staff (6 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The administrative arrangements for the Sick Leave Scheme in the Civil Service are set out in Circular 05/2018 – Arrangements for Paid Sick Leave, and operate in conjunction with the Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations (SI 124 of 2014) and Public Service Management (Sick Leave) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 384 of 2015). The Sick Leave scheme provides for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Civil Registration Service (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Civil Registration Service is operated by the HSE with policy direction being given by the General Register Office (GRO), which falls under the aegis of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GRO and Civil Registration Service has continued to provide civil registration services, including the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Payments Administration (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Fortnightly payments were introduced by my Department to assist with social distancing measures in accordance with public health guidelines. While some welfare schemes have reverted to a weekly payment pattern, fortnightly payments have been retained for a number of schemes, including Disability, Pensions and Carers’ payments.  These schemes mainly involve payments to people...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Fuel Allowance is a payment of €24.50 per week for 28 weeks (a total of €686 each year) from October to April, to an average of 352,000 low income households, at an estimated cost of €261.35 million in 2020.  The purpose of this payment is to assist these households with their energy costs.  The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Since the introduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme in March, approximately 750,000 people have applied for payment and in some cases, they have done so on a number of occasions as they moved in and out of employment. Consequently, there are over 1 million applications to be examined to determine if arrears are due.   In order to address an issue of this scale,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Insurance (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Act 2020, provides, amongst other provisions, for the attribution of social insurance contributions, for a prescribed period, to insured persons who were beneficiaries of certain Covid-19 income support payments.  These payments include the pandemic unemployment payment. The attribution of contributions measure will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment was introduced as an emergency measure to provide an income support to those who had lost their employment as a result of Covid. In order to ensure that the scheme was simple and accessible for the unprecedented number of applicants, a flat payment rate was introduced. This rate was the equivalent of the rate for a two-person household. From 26 June...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Respite Care Grant (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Carer’s Support Grant (formerly called the Respite Care Grant) is an annual payment for carers who look after people in need of full-time care and attention. The grant is paid in a single annual lump sum, usually on the first Thursday in June.  The grant is not means-tested and is not taxable.  It is paid in respect of each care recipient.  It is...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: As part of a suite of measures announced in the July Stimulus, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment will now be extended to April 2021. By week-ending Friday, 2nd October 2020, the PUP scheme will have cost an estimated €3.6 billion.  The cost of PUP in the period between September and December 2020, and up to April 2021, will depend on the ongoing suppression...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Pandemic Unemployment Payment has been extended until 31st March 2021 which will provide support to those from sectors facing extended periods of closure.  I have also secured Government approval to keep the scheme open for new applications until the end of this year. From 17 September the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is  being paid at three rates...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy is aware, as part of the July Stimulus Package, the Government announced 3,000 additional places on State Employment Schemes, including Community Employment (CE) and Tús.  My Department officials are currently reviewing a range of options relating to the allocation of the extra places. A number of factors will inform the decision on the allocation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Community Employment (CE) Scheme is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed term basis. A number of changes were introduced to the eligibility criteria for CE in 2017 to broaden access to the CE programme to a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Tús commenced operation in 2011 as a response to the high level of unemployment and the large numbers on the live register at that time.  It provides short-term work opportunities for those who are unemployed for more than a year, in community work placements. Tús is designed to break the cycle of unemployment and maintain work readiness, thereby improving a...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Youth Work Supports (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Youth Employment Support Scheme (YESS) was introduced on 1st October 2018 and has been open to applications since that date. YESS is targeted at young jobseekers aged between 18 and 24 who are long-term unemployed or who face barriers to employment. The scheme aims to provide jobseekers with the opportunity to learn basic work and social skills in a supportive...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: As the Deputy will be aware, Community Employment (CE) supervisors and assistant supervisors have been seeking for several years, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors who are employed by CE schemes.   CE sponsoring authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: A Case Officer from the Cork Street Intreo Centre contacted the person concerned on 28/09/2020 to discuss her interest in participating on a Community Employment scheme. The person concerned has been referred for vacancies in the Sandymount YMCA and the Community Services Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend Ltd CE Schemes. I trust this clarifies the matter.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: There are a total of 277 Social Welfare Inspectors in my Department. In addition there are a further 98 officers assigned to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).  The SIU carries out a wide range of control activities and works closely with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners through the Joint Investigation Unit, with the Workplace Relations Commission and other compliance...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Inspections (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the number and nature of inspections carried out by social welfare inspectors for the years 2012 to date is not available in my Department. This relates to differences in the way investigations were recorded in the past and the fact that some investigations may have passed through multiple officers between starting...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Inspections (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department administers over 70 schemes and services.  Social welfare inspectors are engaged with customers throughout the entire lifecycle of their claim, including regular reviews for all schemes on an ongoing basis.  In order to deliver our services effectively inspectors may engage with each and every customer multiple times in various ways over the course of...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Inspections (1 Oct 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The information requested by the Deputy cannot be provided within the timeframe available. The Department is  now seeking to compile the data sought by the Deputy and will provide the relevant information directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.