Written Answers 91-99
91. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Social Protection if there is a North South Co-operation unit in her Department; the number of staff working in the North South Co-operation unit; the number of staff who have worked in the North South Co-operation unit in each year since 2007. [46623/12]
View answerThere is ongoing contact between officials of my Department and their counterparts in Northern Ireland, both at operational level and at the most senior management level. While there is no specific North South Co-operation Unit in my Department of Social Protection, matters relating to North South relations are dealt with by the EU International Section of the Department. There are 9 staff in this Section.
92. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Roscommon who has been refused the back to school clothing and footwear scheme allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46629/12]
View answerAn application was received from the customer concerned in the back to school clothing and footwear allowance section on the 14th of August 2012. The application was processed on the 24th of September 2012 and was disallowed as the person’s means exceed the income limit for their family size. A review of this decision was completed on the 22nd of October and the original decision was upheld. As no further evidence has been provided this decision stands and the claim is now closed.
93. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to review the amount of child benefit paid to parents of twins, triplets and so on. [46653/12]
View answer95. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to remove child benefit from high income families (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46666/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 93 and 95 together.
Child benefit is a monthly payment made to families with children in respect of all qualified children up to the age of 16 years. The payment continues to be paid in respect of children up to their 18th birthday who are in full-time education, or who have a physical or mental disability. The estimated expenditure on child benefit for 2012 is around €2 billion and it is paid to around 600,000 families in respect of some 1.15 million children. Parents of multiple birth children receive an additional monthly premia paid at one and a half times the monthly child benefit payment rate for each twin and double the monthly payment rate for each child in other multiple births. While Budget 2012 maintained this additional monthly payment, the multiple births grant of €635 paid at birth, at 4 years of age and at 12 years of age was discontinued.
As a universal payment child benefit assists parents with the cost of raising children and it contributes towards alleviating child poverty. The Government is also conscious that child benefit is an important source of income for all families, especially during a time of recession and high unemployment. Bearing this in mind, any plans to change the Child Benefit scheme would be considered in the context of the annual budget.
I am conscious that achieving a better design of the overall system of child income supports, including child benefit, raises complex issues about the effectiveness of the full range of income supports currently provided to families and their children. In this context and in line with a commitment in the Programme for Government, I established an Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare last year, which has been tasked with recommending cost-effective solutions as to how employment disincentives can be improved and better poverty outcomes achieved, particularly child poverty outcomes. The Advisory Group prioritised the area of family and child income supports and has completed its work on this area. Their report is currently receiving my consideration and will assist the Government in setting out a pathway towards a more appropriate system of child income supports.
94. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Social Protection when she will introduce legislation that deals with Gender Recognition Advisory Group's report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46655/12]
View answerThe Gender Recognition Advisory Group (GRAG) was established in 2010 to advise the Government on the legislation required to give legal recognition to the acquired gender of transgender persons. The Report of the Group, which recommends a scheme for the legal recognition of transgender persons, was approved by the Government on 12 July 2011, and was subsequently published on 14 July, 2011.
Since the publication of the Report, the Department has been working on developing draft Heads of a Gender Recognition Bill. In this context, it has engaged in discussions with the relevant medical health professionals and with representatives from interested NGOs. Given the legal complexities involved in relation to some of the GRAG recommendations relating to the marital and civil partnership status of individuals, in March, my Department sought advice from the Office of the Attorney General, which in turn sought the legal opinion of external counsel on these issues.
Preliminary discussions have taken place between my Department, the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice and Equality in relation to the legal opinion of external counsel. The Office of the Attorney General is in the process of considering the various approaches suggested by counsel. Once my Department receives the formal legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General, this will inform the drafting of the Heads of Bill. Given the sensitive and complex nature of the issues involved, it is my intention to ask the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education to discuss the provisional draft Heads of Bill once they are completed.
It is therefore not possible to be definitive at this stage about when I will be in a position to introduce legislation to give legal recognition to the acquired gender of transgender persons. When my Department has received the formal opinion of the Attorney General’s Office and when the Oireachtas Committee has discussed the provisional draft Heads of Bill I will be in a better position to give a timeframe for the introduction of the legislation.
98. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will make available a report on the social welfare appeals office covering the second two quarters of 2012 as she did in relation to the first quarter of the year. [46692/12]
View answerA report on the Social Welfare Appeals Office up to September 2012, as requested by the deputy is attached.
Report: January to September 2012 – Social Welfare Appeals Office
Overview
Processing times have significantly improved this year. This is a result of the measures put in place to deal with the backlog including
- The assignment of 15 additional Appeals Officers
- Retired Appeals Officers retained for 18 months ending December 2011
- Improvements to business processes and IT support
- New operating model
Processing times
Before the current pressures on the office, the average processing time was around 14 weeks for a summary decision and around 31 weeks for an oral hearing. This peaked last year at an average of 25 weeks for a summary decision and 52.5 weeks for an oral hearing. One of the problems with the processing times was the very significant disparity between the time taken for a summary decision as against an oral hearing. This was a result of the operating model whereby files were assigned to AOs to either decide the appeal (summary decision) or return the file for the case to be dealt with by way of an oral appeal hearing, most likely by a different AO. This meant that where a case was not decided summarily it went back into a second queue to await assignment to a different AO, which carried an inherent delay for our customers.
Under a new model, operating since January, where an officer is assigned a case load, he or she will either decide the case summarily or, if an oral hearing is warranted, will conduct the hearing him/herself. This enhances the Appeals Officer’s responsibility for the individual case and serves as an incentive to ensure the process operates effectively. Table 1 shows the progressive reduction and rebalancing of processing times that has taken place over the last 9 months under the new operating model. These figures should continue to improve as our capacity increases (between turnover and additional resources, 25 AOs have less than 18 months experience with some no more than a few weeks.). Of course, the time taken to process appeals reflects all aspects of the process including the time taken by the Department to finalise the submission and, where warranted, to arrange further medical assessments.
Number of cases on hands
While the processing times are improving the number of cases on hands is up by about 3,000 on the end of 2011. This is largely a result of the integration of the SWA appeals service with the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO). Up to October 2011, appeals in relation to SWA were made in the first instance to the HSE. If a person was dissatisfied with the outcome of that appeal, they could then appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. From October 2011, this two-step process ceased and SWA appeals are now made directly to the SWAO. It is estimated that this will increase the number of appeals received in 2012 by up to 8,000 cases. See Table 2.
Table 1 Processing Times
|
Year |
Summary Decision |
Oral Hearing |
|
2007 |
14.2 |
30.4 |
|
2008 |
13.9 |
32.9 |
|
2009 |
18.2 |
34.8 |
|
2010 |
27.4 |
45.6 |
|
2011 |
25.1 |
52.5 |
|
January 2012 |
20.9 |
48.5 |
|
February 2012 |
22.4 |
38.1 |
|
March 2012 |
23.9 |
38.7 |
|
April 2012 |
27.7 |
39.4 |
|
May 2012 |
30.2 |
40.6 |
|
June 2012 |
28.6 |
39.7 |
|
July 2012 |
30.3 |
40.3 |
|
August 2012 |
27.8 |
38.1 |
|
September 2012 |
28.9 |
39.1 |
Table 2 Appeal Receipts/on hand
|
Year |
On hands at start of year |
Received |
Workload |
Finalised |
On hands at end year (& to 30/9/2012) |
|
2006 |
5,704 |
13,800 |
19,504 |
14,006 |
5,498 |
|
2007 |
5,498 |
14,070 |
19,568 |
13,845 |
5,723 |
|
2008 |
5,723 |
17,833 |
23,556 |
15,724 |
7,832 |
|
2009 |
7,832 |
25,963 |
33,795 |
17,787 |
16,008 |
|
2010 |
16,008 |
32,432 |
48,440 |
28,166 |
20,274 |
|
2011 |
20,274 |
31,241 |
51,515 |
34,027 |
17,488 |
|
2012 (to 30/9/2012) |
17,488 |
27,221 |
44,709 |
23,138 |
21,571 |
99. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection if a person on jobbridge who applies for the fuel allowance does not have the required 390 days on jobseeker's to qualify, if he will allow for the shortfall in days to come from the length of time a person has spent on jobbridge so as to allow these applicants qualify; his views on whether there is discrimination against all applicants in this situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46739/12]
View answerMy Department will spend almost €215 million in 2012 on the fuel allowance scheme benefitting some 400,000 people. In 2005 there were 265,000 on the fuel allowance at a cost of €82 million. The cost of the scheme has risen by over 160% in seven years. The current fuel season commenced in October this year and will run for 26 weeks until April 2013. I have no plans to amend the guidelines to allow the time spent on jobbridge to count towards the accrual of time for eligibility for the fuel allowance.
An intern participating in jobbridge will continue to receive the social welfare entitlements, including secondary entitlements such as fuel allowance, that they were receiving immediately prior to commencing the scheme. However, during their jobbridge internship, interns will not receive additional benefits, such as fuel allowance, if they were previously not entitled to this benefit before they began their internship. The objective of the jobbridge scheme is to keep unemployed people close to the labour market and to give them the opportunity to gain quality work experience thereby increasing their employability.
