Written answers

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Benefits

9:00 pm

Photo of Anne FerrisAnne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if rent allowance will be reinstated as soon as possible in respect of persons (details supplied) in County Wicklow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19122/11]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that a formal decision has not yet been made on their application for rent supplement. The HSE further advised that the persons concerned have been requested to renegotiate the rent being charged by the landlord as it currently exceeds the maximum rent limit for their family size.

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Kerry satisfies criteria to qualify for a position as a Tús worker in a company (details further supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19128/11]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The purpose of Tús is to focus on those people who are long-term unemployed. For this reason, eligibility is at present confined to those on the live register for 12 months and in receipt of jobseeker's allowance. These provisions are to ensure a targeted approach to those currently affected by long-term unemployment. Persons already in employment or engaged in community employment are not eligible for these positions. Eligible persons will be identified by the Department of Social Protection by applying the following conditions:

· A person must be unemployed and in receipt of a jobseeker's payment for at least 12 months, and

· Currently be in receipt of jobseeker's allowance, and

· Be fully unemployed.

This person (details supplied) does not meet the eligibility criteria at present. The operation of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, will be kept under review and will inform the evaluation process in due course.

Photo of Seán KennySeán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of one parent family payment; if she will provide a breakdown of the educational and or professional standards of these recipients; the average size of these families and the average age of children of such families. [19129/11]

Photo of Seán KennySeán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of one parent family payment that have recently commenced or completed educational schemes such as the back to education scheme and the springboard programme; if these schemes have been full-time or part-time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19130/11]

Photo of Seán KennySeán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of one parent family payment that have recently commenced or completed existing back to work schemes such as the work placement programme; if these schemes have been full time or part time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19131/11]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 to 114, inclusive, together.

The number of claimants receiving the One-Parent Family Payment (OFP) stood at 93,166 on 31 May, 2011. Some 98% of claimants are women. Recipients receive payments in respect of 154,172 child dependants.

Some 57% of OFP recipients have 1 child, 28% have 2 children, 10% have 3 children and 5% have 4 children or more. Some 90% of recipients have a youngest child aged 14 years or under, 80% have a youngest child aged 11 years or under, 61% have a youngest child aged 7 years or under and 33% have a youngest child aged 3 years or under.

Lone parents generally have significantly lower levels of education than married or ohabiting parents – 13% of them have no formal qualifications compared to just 6% of other parents and a further 27% of them have only lower secondary level qualifications compared to 15% of married or cohabiting parents. Lone parents are also a lot less likely to have a third-level qualification – only 18% fall into this category compared to 34% of other parents. 58% (or almost two-thirds) of lone parents only ever attain secondary level education and no higher.

Section 12 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2011 extends existing provisions requiring that new claimants for all social welfare payments, including OFP, can be obliged to provide a range of information for profiling and activation purposes to the existing stock of social welfare recipients. Such profiling of OFP recipients, when introduced, will provide information on the educational, skills and employment background of individual claimants and can be used to better target supports to help people to return to work, education or training. Additionally, the collation of information on an individual level and on a county-by-county basis to better identify the requirements of the different cohorts within the OFP population will enable the identification of supports that are available across the service provider network.

With regard to participation in employment, it is currently estimated that some 50% of OFP recipients are in employment. Some 6,500 recipients (or 7% of the current total number of claimants) are involved in Community Employment (CE) schemes.

The total number of participants on the Back-to-Education Allowance (BTEA) scheme during the 2010/2011 academic year was 25,032 – of which 2,589 were previously in receipt of the OFP. Of these, 1,207 were on the second level option and 1,382 were on the third level option.

The Springboard Programme is a Department of Education and Skills initiative. The application process for it is still open. Information will become available from that Department in due course.

The total number of participants on the Back-to-Work Allowance (BTWA) scheme as of 24 June, 2011, stood at 11,310 – of which 357 were previously in receipt of the OFP. Of these, 96 were employees and 261 were self-employed.

As of 4 July, 2011, there were a total of 42 participants on the Work Placement Programme who are in receipt of the OFP. Since the inception of this Programme in 2009, a total of 38 individuals, who were in receipt of the OFP, have successfully secured a work placement. Placements on the Work Placement Programme must span a minimum of 25 hours or a maximum of 40 hours per week.

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