Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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480. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of Bills prepared by her Department since 27 June 2020; the number and title of those Bills that included a regulatory impact assessment; the title of the regulatory impact assessments that have been published by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43714/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has prepared two Bills since 27th June 2020, both of which have been enacted; the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Act 2020 and the Social Welfare Act 2020.

Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIAs) are undertaken by the Department of Social Protection in accordance with the relevant guidelines published by the Department of the Taoiseach relating to significant legislative, policy and other changes.

The Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Act 2020 put the Covid-19-Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) on a formal statutory footing and allowed for the attribution, for a prescribed period, of paid social insurance contributions to employees who have been directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the emergency nature of these measures, it was not considered appropriate to conduct a Regulatory Impact Analysis in this case.

The Social Welfare Act 2020 gave legislative effect to a range of Social Welfare measures announced in the Budget on 13th October 2020. A Regulatory Impact Analysis is not ordinarily undertaken on the package of tax, welfare and other measures announced in the annual Budget. The Department does, however, conduct a social impact analysis, using the ESRI's SWITCH model, on social protection measures contained in the annual Budget.