Results 18,501-18,520 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: State Pensions (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The public policy and social issues in relation to funding a sustainable and adequate State pension system are complex.  Therefore, the Government is establishing a Commission on Pensions to examine a range of issues including contributions, calculation methods, sustainability, eligibility and intergenerational fairness. The Terms of Reference for the Commission on Pensions are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Ability programme is a pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities.  The funding for this programme will amount to around €16 million over a three year period and is being provided jointly under the EU's ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) Operational Programme 2014-2020 and the Irish Exchequer.  The programme will support over...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Fuel Allowance (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 819 and 820 together. The estimated full year cost of extending the Fuel Allowance payment period by one week is €9.04 million.  The estimated full year cost of increasing the Fuel Allowance by €1 is €10.33 million. The costs shown above are on a full year basis and are based on the estimated number of recipients in 2020 and based on...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 821 and 822 together. The issue of pension provision was examined by a Community Sector High Level Forum, chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform from in 2017 and included representatives of various Departments with responsibility for funding the community and voluntary sector, statutory agencies and also unions representing the CE...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The JobPath contract contains provisions for early termination, notwithstanding any dispute which may arise and which is covered elsewhere in the contract. Written notice must be served on the contractor 6 months in advance of a termination.  The amount of compensation to be paid to the service providers is stipulated in the contract.  However, the amount of compensation,...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities.  Its objective is to help long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce. The estimated cost of 1,000 places on the CE Scheme for one year is €16.8m, based on 2020...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 825 to 828, inclusive, together. The Tús scheme provides work placements for a twelve month period for those who are fully unemployed and on the live register for a year or more. The Tús initiative helps break the cycle of long-term unemployment by providing a work routine and valuable work experience. The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) provides...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The aim of the Community Employment (CE) programme is to enhance the employability of unemployed persons by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities.  Its objective is to help long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce. There are currently just under 21,000 participants on Community Employment.  The budget for the...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Parental Leave (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Parents leave and benefit was introduced in 2019 and is available to parents of new babies born or children adopted from 1st November 2019. This benefit covers two weeks' paid leave from employment/self-employment for each parent within their child's first year, which can be taken as either two consecutive weeks or two separate weeks.  This benefit is in addition to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: All labour activation referrals, including JobPath, were suspended in March 2020 in accordance with public health guidelines. Engagement continued during this period by phone, email and other remote means, where possible. Referrals to contracted public employment services gradually recommenced from mid-June.  The pause in referrals to JobPath from March to June 2020...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: From January 2016 to the end of June 2020 total invoices amounted to €243.2m, of which €94m was in respect of referral fees and €149.2m for sustainment fees.  When recoupments of €7.8m are taken into account, actual total expenditure amounts to €235.4m.

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: JobPath provides a case management based employment advice and counselling service to long term unemployed jobseekers. To date, some 61,626 jobseekers have commenced employment during their engagement period with JobPath.  39,531 had sustained employment for 13 weeks, 31,523 for 26 weeks, 25,471 for 39 weeks and 20,881 for 52 weeks. It should be noted that many clients who are currently...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: In the normal course of business the JobPath service providers will regularly submit non-engagement notifications to the Department. This is an administrative function which is not necessarily indicative of any particular outcome. In the majority of cases the client will be contacted and the appointment will be rescheduled. Some clients may have multiple...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Penalty rates were introduced in 2011 as a means of encouraging jobseekers to engage with activation measures and to co-operate with efforts of the Department to assist them in securing employment.  The Department is committed, under Pathways to Work, to incentivise the take-up of activation opportunities, and this includes implementing sanctions for failure to engage where...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: There are a number of key features which enable my Department to monitor all aspects of the JobPath providers’ performance and ensure contract compliance. Every participant is provided with a service guarantee - a baseline level of service covering frequency of engagement, personal progression planning, geographic accessibility and in-employment support. As part of their contractual...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: JobPath Programme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My officials hold regular meetings with both JobPath contractors as part of the normal contract management process. Since the onset of the Covid-19 restrictions these meetings have taken place via conference calls. Referrals to all activation services, including those provided by the JobPath providers, were suspended in March in accordance with public health guidelines.  My...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Employment Support Services (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I very much welcome the Jobs Stimulus package which sets out the Government’s substantial response to the Covid-19 crisis to provide an impetus to our economic recovery. My Department’s contribution to that impetus will be to support people without jobs.  My Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education and Training, Innovation and Research will...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 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. In general, the period of participation on CE is for one year.  However, CE participants who are...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Community Employment (CE) is a positive initiative that enables the long-term unemployed to make a contribution to their communities whilst up-skilling themselves for prospective future employment. It helps to break the cycle of unemployment and improve a person’s chances of returning to the labour market. A number of new conditions were introduced on CE in July 2017 to...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Rural Social Scheme (30 Jul 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Rural Social scheme (RSS) provides opportunities for farmers and fishermen who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities.  Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and the participants have the opportunity to improve existing skills, or develop new skills,...