Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 416: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of issues that can be taken into consideration for a person to be granted a payment under the occupational injury benefit scheme; the way these matters are assessed and by whom; if she will outline the medical qualification of assessors; if reports from the applicant's medical consultants are given full or partial weight in this process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42282/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Disablement benefit, payable under the Occupational Injuries Scheme, is a compensation payment for loss of faculty arising out of or in the course of insurable employment. The legislation governing the Occupational Injuries Scheme provides entitlement to benefit for persons suffering from loss of faculty arising out of an accident at work or from certain prescribed diseases which are listed in the legislation and where that person has contracted that disease in the course of their employment.

Where a person has contracted one of the diseases listed in the legislation, benefits are payable if he/she was employed in an occupation which is specifically prescribed in relation to that disease. In addition, benefits may be payable if the claimant can show that the disease was contracted through an employment not specifically prescribed in relation to that disease.

Employment under a contract of service is insurable for occupational injuries benefit under the Social Welfare Acts. People who are unable to work due to an accident arising from their employment may be entitled to occupational injury benefit for the first 26 weeks of their claim. If their incapacity extends beyond that period they may receive illness benefit or invalidity pension, subject to meeting the qualifying conditions for these payments.

A person may be entitled to Disablement Benefit if he/she suffers a loss of physical or mental faculty as a result of an accident at work or a disease prescribed in legislation that they contracted at work. Medical assessments are undertaken in all such cases to determine the degree of disablement, which is calculated by comparison to the state of health of the applicant with a person of the same age and gender. The degree of disablement is expressed as a percentage of loss of faculty and the compensation payable varies accordingly. Loss of faculty may be determined within a range of less than 1% to 100%, depending on the severity of the condition. A person must be assessed as having a minimum of 20% loss of faculty before he/she may be considered as being incapable of work due to his/her disablement. A person in receipt of disablement benefit may at any time request a review of his/her award.

The Department's medical staff consists of a Chief Medical Adviser and 20 Medical Assessors who carry out the medical assessments. Medical Assessors are fully qualified and experienced practitioners who provide a second opinion to that of the person's own doctor for the guidance of the Department's Deciding Officers. Their assessments conform to the ethical conduct and behaviour guidelines of the Medical Council.

Medical Assessors are required to be medical practitioners who are on the general register of medical practitioners while holding an appointment. They must have at least six years satisfactory experience in the practice of medicine since registration. Many of the Medical Assessors have specialist post- graduate qualifications and all have received special training in Human Disability Evaluation. The Medical Assessors have an ongoing commitment to continuing medical education to ensure that standards are maintained and enhanced.

When conducting an assessment the Medical Assessor does not dispute the existence of the certified cause of incapacity but rather s/he assesses the degree to which the loss of function resulting from the disease or injury affects the person's ability to perform normal day to day functions and how it impacts on their quality of life.

In carrying out assessments the Medical Assessor reviews any medical evidence available, e.g. GP/specialist reports, results of investigations, X rays, MRIs, etc and expresses an opinion based on findings. All Medical Consultants Reports are given full consideration when assessing applicants for Occupational Injury Benefit/Disablement Benefit purposes. Occasionally, in certain other cases where complex illness is involved, the services of a specialist may be employed to examine the patient and to assess an impairment rating. If a claimant is dissatisfied with his/her disablement benefit award he/she may seek to have it reviewed by a senior officer or appeal it to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 1357 of 24 September 2008, the reason a Minister may not apply backdating to a non-statutory scheme such as the free fuel allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42283/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The national fuel allowance scheme assists householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive (HSE) payments with meeting the cost of their heating needs during the winter season. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses. It is not intended to meet those costs in full.

Fuel allowance is paid to eligible people from the date of application. Backdating of payment may be made where there are extenuating circumstances in individual cases. It is open to any individual to request a review of entitlement to fuel allowance from a date prior to the date of application, outlining the reasons for the late application and indicating why payment should be backdated, for example, incapacity on the part of the applicant, wrong information given by the Department or financial hardship. The backdating of payment of fuel allowance in all cases of late claims, regardless of the circumstances for the delay in claiming, could give rise to significant costs and make the forecasting of expenditure on the fuel scheme difficult to predict. Any such change to the scheme would have to be considered in a budgetary context.