Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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341. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the name and number of Bills in preparation in his Department and published by his Department since May 2016; the Stage each Bill is at in the Houses of the Oireachtas; the number of Bills from his Department signed into law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40141/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department's normal legislative cycle involves the enactment of two or more Social Welfare Bills each year: (a) a Bill in November/December to implement the annual social welfare changes announced in the October Budget, and (b) a Bill in spring/early summer to provide a legal basis within the social welfare code for policy, administrative and operational changes (and Budget measures, if required).

I have prepared and published one Bill since May 2016, namely the Social Welfare Bill 2016. The Bill provides for a range of Budget measures, including increases in weekly welfare rates and the extension of eligibility for Treatment Benefit and Invalidity Pension to the self-employed. It also contains a series of non-Budgetary amendments to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 across a range of social welfare schemes.

The Bill was published on 4 November and was passed by the Dáil on 24 November. The Bill is at Report Stage in the Seanad today, 13 December.