Vol. 520 No. 1
301 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will have investigations made into the anomaly where a farming couple paid PRSI on the joint income of their combined holding and the contributory old age pension is awarded only to the husband with the spouse being denied an adult dependent allowance, in view of the fact that some of the farm is in her name; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15225/00]
Entitlement to the old age contributory pension is conditional on a person satisfying a number of qualifying contribution
conditions in their own right.
302 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of farm families receiving farm assist on 30 April 2000; the average payment being made to each family; the number transferred from small farmers dole; the number transferred from other schemes; the number of new applications received and, of these, the number that were sanctioned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15227/00]
The farm assist scheme, which introduced the special arrangements for farmers on low incomes, was provided for in the
Social Welfare Act, 1999, and came into operation with effect from 7 April 1999.
On 30 April, 2000, there were 7,540 farm assist claims in payment, of whom 5,079 have transferred from smallholders' unemployment assistance. In addition, 406 claimants are still in receipt of small-holders unemployment assistance, and are currently being reviewed.
To date 554 claimants have transferred from other schemes, including pre-retirement allowance, widow(er)'s (non-contributory) pensions and disability allowance.
A total of 2,923 new applications have been received, with 1,907 of these in payment on 30 April. The balance are cases under investigation, cases where have been disallowed or cases where
the applicant ceased claiming for various reasons such as securing employment.
The average weekly payment to all farm assist claimants is £79.30. The former small-holders who have transferred to farm assist and are receiving on average £87.00 per week, an increase of almost £12.50 per week compared with the average weekly payment of £74.60 made under the small-holders scheme, in 1998.
The Social Welfare Act, 2000, provided for a number of important changes to the means test for the farm assist scheme. The child related disregards are being increased from £100 for the first two children and £200 for each subsequent qualified child to £200 and £300, respectively.
303 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if it is the policy of his Department that all applicants for unemployment benefit are required to be interviewed by a social welfare officer before a decision is made in their application as is the situation in areas of south Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15228/00]
On making a claim for unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance, customers are required to prove that they fulfil the required statutory conditions of being available for, capable of and genuinely seeking work. To be regarded as fulfilling the requirement of genuinely seeking work a person must show that he or she has taken reasonable steps to obtain employment, including applying for and seeking information on jobs, and availing of suitable training opportunities.
Customers are also interviewed by staff regarding their efforts to secure employment on an on–
going basis. The result of these interviews can be a referral for training/placement, referral to one of the Department's jobs facilitators or to an employer where suitable known vacancies exist.
In the Killarney area, local employers contacted the Department and indicated that they had a number of vacancies. In view of this contact, the Department commenced an employment initiative on 22 May 2000.
In a series of interviews, customers including new registrants, are being advised of these local job vacancies and are being referred to employers where appropriate. Customers are also advised about employment supports available to them from this Department.
Social welfare inspectors who are based in Killarney, are interviewing customers and informing them of the employment opportunities available in the area.
This initiative is on-going until the end of June when the situation regarding outstanding job vacancies will be reviewed.
