Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 282: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the policy whereby a person in receipt of one parent family payment and receiving a grant bursary in Northern Ireland will be means tested euro for euro against their one parent family payment. [28697/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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One parent family payment is a means tested social assistance payment. In assessing means, account is taken of all cash income which the person is receiving. Where a person is in receipt of a grant bursary along the lines described in this question, this is assessed euro for euro basis. Where a person is in receipt of maintenance payments or earnings from employment or self-employment, the level of assessment is reduced through the use of disregards and tapering arrangements. However, these arrangements do not apply to bursary payments.

Any changes to social protection schemes and services, operated by this Department, including the one parent family payment, will be considered in a Budgetary context later this year. The process will be informed by the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure which has been completed by my Department.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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Question 283: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the policy whereby a person in receipt of one parent family payment and receiving a grant bursary in Northern Ireland will be means tested euro for euro against their one parent family payment. [28706/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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One parent family payment is a means tested social assistance payment. In assessing means, account is taken of all cash income which the person is receiving. Where a person is in receipt of a grant bursary along the lines described in this question, this is assessed euro for euro basis. Where a person is in receipt of maintenance payments or earnings from employment or self-employment, the level of assessment is reduced through the use of disregards and tapering arrangements. However, these arrangements do not apply to bursary payments.

Any changes to social protection schemes and services, operated by this Department, including the one parent family payment, will be considered in a Budgetary context later this year. The process will be informed by the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure which has been completed by my Department.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 284: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if consideration will be given to providing an exemption to the qualifying criteria for rent allowance for victims of domestic violence and their children. [28708/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In order to qualify for a rent supplement a person must have been residing in private rented accommodation or accommodation for homeless persons or an institution (or any combination of these) for a period of 183 days within the preceding 12 months of the date of claim for rent supplement. A person may also qualify for rent supplement where an assessment of housing need has been carried out within the 12 months preceding the date of claim and the person is deemed by the relevant local authority to be eligible for and in need of social housing support.

In all other cases, a person who wishes to apply for rent supplement is referred, in the first instance, for an assessment of eligibility for social housing support by the local housing authority in the area where claim to rent supplement is made (and the person intends to reside). Only when the person has been assessed as being eligible for and in need of social housing support, does the person become eligible for consideration for rent supplement. However, where a claimant's safety and well-being are at risk staff has been provided with special discretionary powers to expedite the award of a payment to the person in question.

Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to review the progression aspect of the current back to education scheme in view of the growing volume of highly qualified persons who are now out of work, seeking a return to education and who are unable to progress to a course of higher qualification because their latest one is a BA or an MA and their options are therefore limited; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28715/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The focus of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) is to assist those who are most marginalised and distant from the labour market to acquire the necessary education to improve their chances of becoming independent of the social welfare system. The BTEA scheme can offer participation in second and third level education by enabling eligible people in receipt of certain social welfare payments to continue to receive a payment while pursuing an approved full-time education course that leads to a higher qualification than that already held.

A person wishing to pursue BTEA will have to satisfy a number of conditions such as being a certain age, in receipt of a prescribed social welfare payment for a specified time period, pursuing a full time course of study leading to a recognised qualification in a recognised college and progressing in the level of education held by the client with reference to the national framework of qualifications among others.

Progression has always been a fundamental condition of BTEA. State support for education purposes is grounded on a student progressing from one qualification level to a higher one. This is necessary to ensure displacement does not occur, in that courses could be offered to students who are not progressing at the cost of students progressing from a lower education level. It should be noted that, in the 2010/2011 academic year, of the 25,032 participants supported through BTEA, 43% pursued second level courses. Furthermore, the scheme was never intended to be an alternative form of funding for people entering or re-entering the third level education system.

However, if a person wishes to pursue a part time education course they may be able to do so while still obtaining their jobseekers payment. They must apply at their local social welfare office and verify that participation on the course does not reduce their availability for work. In the case of jobseekers benefit, participation on a course does not grant any extension to the normal period for which jobseekers benefit is paid.

On May 10th, as part of the Government's Jobs Initiative, 20,900 new and additional places were announced in training, education and work experience programmes. As part of this initiative, a new fund, entitled Springboard, which is being managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills, provides education and training opportunities to support unemployed people. The primary objective of Springboard is to help unemployed people to remain as close as possible to the labour market by accessing part-time flexible higher education and training opportunities to up-skill or re-skill in areas where sustainable employment opportunities may arise as the economy recovers. The target group for this programme of over 200 courses includes unemployed people with a previous history of employment who already hold a higher level qualification at NFQ Levels 6 to 9, who may also require additional up-skilling or re-skilling in order to re-enter employment. By way of the part-time education option, unemployed people on jobseekers' payments will be facilitated in retaining their payment, subject to continuing entitlement, within the broader back to education framework.

The BTEA, in conjunction with other employment support schemes, will be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure that it continues to meet its objectives.