Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 402: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when an application for back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Laois; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23864/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The person concerned has been awarded a back to school clothing and footwear allowance and a payment issued to her nominated account on 6 September 2011.

Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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Question 403: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if widows pension would be processed without further delay in respect of a person (details supplied). [23874/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There is no record of an application for widow's pension from the person concerned. I have arranged for an application form to issue to-day. Upon receipt of the completed application form, her entitlement will be assessed and she will be notified of the outcome without delay .

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Question 404: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when an application for lone parent allowance will be approved in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Wexford. [23898/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the One Parent Family Payment appeal, by the person concerned, was registered in that office on 26 March 2011. The case was referred to an Appeals Officer for consideration and the Appeals Officer has referred this case back to the Social Welfare Services Office for clarification on certain issues. On receipt of their response, the case will be further considered by the Appeals Officer.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Question 405: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a person (details supplied) in County Galway will be granted a mortgage interest subsidy. [23900/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that payment of mortgage interest supplement was suspended as the HSE had requested information from the person concerned. The HSE further advised that the person concerned has recently provided the information requested and a decision on his future entitlement to mortgage interest supplement will be made shortly.

Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 406: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when an application for lone parent allowance will be awarded in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 5. [23905/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The person concerned applied for one-parent family payment from 16 December 2010. Her file was forwarded to a Social Welfare inspector in order for an assessment of her means to be carried out. The person concerned was interviewed recently by the inspector. The inspector will complete his report as quickly as possible and forward the file to a Deciding Officer for a decision. The person concerned will then be advised of the outcome.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 407: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an application for rent subsidy in respect of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23930/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that the person concerned has been awarded rent supplement of €637.35 per month which is her full entitlement based on her personal circumstances. To qualify for rent supplement the person concerned was required to provide a Housing Need Assessment (HNA) from the Local Authority. The HSE has further advised that the person concerned provided a HNA dated 16 August and rent supplement has been awarded from that date. Payment for the period from 16th August to 30th September will issue on 27 September.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 408: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding supplementary mortgage allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23945/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The designated Health Service Executive's Appeals Officer has upheld the decision of the Community Welfare Officer to refuse a mortgage interest supplement to the person concerned. The HSE has further advised that the person concerned has appealed this decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. A decision on entitlement will be made in due course.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of carer's allowance paid and to whom in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; the duration of the payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23985/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department accords the same rights of privacy to personal information held by it relating to living and deceased persons. Such information will only be released to appropriately entitled individuals and in certain circumstances for example the personal representative of the deceased's estate acting in the administration of the estate, a person performing a legal function in relation to the deceased or their estate.

Requests for such information should be made to the department in writing by the individual who claims to be entitled to that information, setting out what information is required, for what purpose(s) it is required and upon what basis entitlement to the information is claimed. The department will make a decision regarding release of the information based upon the individual circumstances and the person requesting the information will be informed accordingly.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 410: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding the delay with back-to-school allowances (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23986/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) scheme operates from the beginning of June to the end of September each year. The administrative arrangements for the 2011 Scheme are different from those that applied in previous years. For this year, the majority of Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance entitlements will be fully automated with no application form required from customers.

Customers who did not receive an automated payment are required to complete application forms which are being processed from one centralised unit within the Department of Social Protection.

This change to the administrative arrangements saw some 127,000 households receive their payment automatically in June of this year.

Manual applications have been accepted since the start of July and up to last Friday (9th September) 81,000 applications have been received. Claims continue to arrive at over 700 per day however this is down from a high of 3,000 per day received in the first two weeks of July, and 2,000 per day in the second two weeks of July, and 1,500 at the end of July/ beginning of August.

Of the 81,000 claims received almost 45,000 have been processed. 33,000 have been paid, 5,000 refused, 5,500 returned because there was insufficient information and there were 1,300 duplicate claims

The Department is working to clear the claims as quickly as possible. 38 staff were originally provided to process these claims, an additional 14 staff were assigned in mid-August bringing the staff complement to 52. This number has now been increased to 60 staff with overtime also being worked.

The timescale for determining applications for BSCFA claims is dependant, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as details of the applicant's income, bank statements, etc. In addition, some aspects of the applications are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where further investigations or third party evidence is required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information.

Following the conclusion of the 2011 scheme, the Department intends to review all aspects of the operation of the scheme.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 411: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on a miner compensation package; when payments will issue; the number of claims pending and outstanding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23998/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Former miners who have suffered an occupational injury or prescribed occupational disease are entitled to apply for disablement benefit under the occupational injuries scheme.

Since the Department met with the National Coalminers Group in the summer of 2010, we have received 458 applications from former miners. Of these, 128 are complete, 309 are awaiting the provision of information from the applicants and 21 are awaiting medical examinations.

At this stage arrears in excess of €629,000 have issued to 58 miners resulting in an average payment of €10,855. It has also resulted in an average weekly increase in disablement pension of €70.