Results 18,541-18,560 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Numbers (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 591, 600, 605, 613, 615 to 617, inclusive, and 619 together. The information requested by the Deputy in respect of 2010 and 2011 remains unchanged to that forwarded to him in reply to questions 476, 485, 490, 497, 501, 502, 503 & 505 on 6 November 2012. The number of recipients of Social Welfare at county level breakdown is not published by my...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Application Numbers (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. There is no automatic entitlement to such a payment. ENPs are payable at the discretion of the officers...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Application Numbers (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Smokeless Fuel Allowance was an extra allowance paid by my Department to low-income households to help them meet the extra costs of using smokeless or low smoke fuels in certain parts of the country. This allowance was abolished from 1 September 2011. Information regarding the recipients of this allowance or its cost was not segregated from the statistics of the schemes under which it was...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Application Numbers (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, miscellaneous supplements may be paid to assist people in certain circumstances. The main types of miscellaneous supplements are: diet supplement; heating supplement; travel supplement; and crèche supplement. The budget provision for miscellaneous supplements in 2013 is €11.4 million. The detailed information requested by the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is the lead Department for severe weather emergencies and the Office of Public Works has responsibility for capital flood relief activities. However, this Department has an important role to play in assisting households in the immediate aftermath of emergency events, such as the flooding of November 2009, October 2011 and June...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Free Travel Scheme Applications (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Department is committed to ensuring that claims are processed as expeditiously as possible. Cases are dealt with by the Medical Assessors on a clinical priority basis. The delay in processing applications for companion free travel passes on medical grounds is due to a number of factors such as the increase in volume of customer claims to the Disability and Illness related schemes and the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 11th March 2013. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 20th May 2013 advising of the decision. The person concerned subsequently lodged an appeal against this...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Departmental Legal Costs (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The information requested is currently being completed within the Department and will be made available to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Jobseeker's Allowance Payments (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The figures for the number of former self-employed persons now receiving benefits or jobseekers allowance are not available. However, a person who is currently self-employed may receive jobseekers allowance, subject to a means assessment, where the estimated income from self-employment is below the relevant jobseekers allowance threshold. At end of June 2013, there were over 11,500 persons...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance was received in respect of the child concerned on the 27th May 2013. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 11th July 2013 advising of the decision. In the case of an application which is refused on medical...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme Eligibility (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs. The Government has provided €48.8m for the scheme in 2013. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Carer's Allowance Applications (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: I confirm that the department received an application for carer’s allowance from the person in question on the 21st May 2013. The medical assessment has been completed. The application is currently with a social welfare investigative officer for assessment of means and confirmation that all the conditions for receipt of carer’s allowance are satisfied. Once the investigative...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Waiting Times (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: Following the completion of the Service Delivery Modernisation projects involving the developments of new information technology systems in Invalidity Pension, Carer’s Allowance and Disability Allowance a rolling programme of business process improvement (BPI) commenced for all schemes managed in Longford HQ. The objective of these projects was to introduce significant processing...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Employment Support Services (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The delivery of the Intreo service comprises a number of elements. The main elements being: i. The integration of the various welfare decision making processes to speed up decision making and minimise recourse to supplementary welfare payments. ii. The introduction of a profiling process to capture the unique characteristics and service requirements of each jobseeker. iii. The...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Public Services Card (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 642 and 649 together. The Department of Social Protection (DSP) has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, a rules based standard for establishing and authenticating an individual’s identity for the purposes of access to public services. This programme of work, which is known as the Standard Authentication Framework...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Rent Supplement Scheme Payments (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The person concerned applied for Rent Supplement under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) Scheme. The application was refused on the grounds that her income is in excess of the SWA guidelines and, consequently, she does not qualify for rent supplement. She was advised of her right to appeal this decision.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Appeals (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 5th June 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred to...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 28th June 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When these have been received from the Department, the case in question will be referred...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Waiting Times (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: At week ending 5th July 2013 there were approximately 600 invalidity pension claims awaiting award on foot of a successful appeal. This is due to the high number of claims processed in the past 12 months and the resulting increase in the number of appeals. In the last 4 weeks alone approximately 550 successful appeal cases were received in invalidity pension section. These cases will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (16 Jul 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 30th May 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought from the Department of Social Protection. These papers have been received in the Social...