Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 230: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will expedite an application for rent supplement in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32406/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The community welfare service (CWS) and the community welfare officers providing it transferred formally to the Department of Social Protection (DSP) from 1 October 2011. The service and the staff are now part of the DSP. There is no record of a rent supplement application in respect of the person concerned. If the person concerned wishes to apply for rent supplement she should complete an application pack available from the community welfare website www.communitywelfareservice.ie and return it to the Central Rents Unit, P.O Box 11758, Dublin 7.

Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when an application for carer's allowance will be processed in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32407/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I confirm that an application for carer's allowance has been received from the person in question. On completion of the necessary investigations relating to all aspects of his claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.

The average time taken to process a claim to completion, including assessment of the claimant's means and the entitlement of the care recipient to full time care and attention on medical grounds is approximately 19 weeks.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 232: To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to transfer responsibility for the payment of rent supplement to local authorities; if she will provide an indicative time-line as to when this change will come into effect; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32410/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are two main initiatives currently being pursued by the Department to transfer long term rent supplement recipients into housing solutions supported by local authorities. The two initiatives are the Rental Accommodation Scheme and the new Housing Policy Initiative launched in June of this year.

The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), which was introduced in 2004, gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. Local authorities meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, the RAS. Since 2004, over 36,000 households have transferred from rent supplement to a local authority provided housing solution.

On 16th June 2011, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Housing & Planning published a new housing policy framework statement. This framework statement reflects the content of the Programme for Government and sets out the principles to underpin the development of housing policy into the medium term. Specifically, it contains the announcement for the transfer of responsibility in providing housing needs for long term rent supplement recipients to housing authorities on a phased basis. The focus of this approach is to achieve a key Government commitment of removing barriers to employment and at the same time returning rent supplement to its original purpose of a short-term income support.

A multi-agency steering group has been established by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government to give effect to this initiative and this group are currently developing proposals and operational protocols for the transfer of responsibility from the Department of Social Protection to housing authorities of persons who have long term housing requirements.

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