Written Answers Nos. 96-102
96. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is satisfied that when meetings are being held within his Department with various banks that minutes were taken and that only issues pertaining to Government business were discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39911/13]
View answer97. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if it is the practice in his Department for officials to attend all meetings held by all Ministers in his Department with outside bodies including banks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39912/13]
View answer98. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if there is an agreed protocol within his Department regarding meetings with outside bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39913/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 96 to 98, inclusive, together.
It is normal practice within my Department that where a business meeting takes place with an external body, a summary record of the meeting will be retained.
In the case of all official meetings with external parties, it is routine practice for a Minister to be accompanied by officials, regardless of the external party concerned.
99. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Social Protection the amount of revenue raised per quarter in 2013 by extending PRSI to all income such as consultants' private practice from 1 January 2013; and if she intends to extend this to income such as dividends, rents in Budget 2014 as detailed in Budget 2013. [39888/13]
View answerFollowing the Minister for Finance’s 2013 Budget Statement indicating that the income base on which PRSI is charged will be broadened, I introduced the following measures.
With effect from 1 January 2013 modified rate contributors with additional earned self-employed income (from a profession or trade) and any other unearned income (such as rental income) became liable to PRSI at the rate of 4% on all such income. This measure was provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 and is expected to yield €8m in 2013 and €12m in a full year. As the PRSI on this income is paid within the Revenue Commissioners’ self-assessed system of tax collection, details of the amount of revenue raised in 2013 are not yet available.
In 2014, the exemption from PRSI applying to all employees who have no additional self-employed earned income but who do have unearned income only (such as rental income or dividends), will be abolished. The income will become liable to PRSI at the rate of 4%. This measure is projected to yield €14m in 2014 and €20 million in a full year.
100. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of breakfast clubs being operated nationally; her views on such clubs; and if her Department is encouraging the creation of more clubs of this nature. [40025/13]
View answerThe school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services for disadvantaged children through two schemes. The first is the statutory urban school meals scheme, operated by local authorities and part-financed by the Department. The second is the school meals local projects schemes through which funding is provided directly to participating schools and local and voluntary community groups who run their own school meals projects. The Government has allocated an additional €2 million for the school meals programme in 2013, providing a total allocation of €37 million.
Under the school meals local projects scheme, funding is provided towards breakfast/snack, lunch and/or dinner clubs. It is the responsibility of the school/organisation as to which club they choose to operate. In the academic year 2012/13 there were approximately 550 breakfast/snack clubs funded under the school meals local projects scheme out of a total of over 2,000 food clubs. The Department is currently in the process of finalising applications from some additional 80 schools to the scheme for the new school year.
Priority for funding under the school meals locals projects scheme is given to schools which are part of the Department of Education and Skills’ initiative for disadvantaged schools, ‘Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools’ (DEIS). Following the provision of the additional €2 million funding this year, the Department wrote to approximately 170 DEIS schools encouraging expressions of interest in participating in the school meals scheme for the current school year. The Department also contacted a further 11 schools/groups who had previously made an application to join the scheme inviting them to participate in the scheme for the final term of the 2012/2013 school year – which one group, a School Completion Programme in Co. Wicklow accepted and joined the scheme during May 2013.
In addition to the schools meals programme, the Department, through its child and social inclusion policy division, provided funding of €22,500 in the form of a social inclusion grant to Healthy Food for All (HFfA) in 2013. The purpose of this funding is to support programme activities aimed at improving access to a healthy and affordable diet. The HFfA's breakfast club initiative is one of a number of programme activities co-ordinated nationally by HFfA to address food poverty in local schools and communities. This food poverty initiative adds value to the Government’s investment in the school meals programme.
I am fully supportive of these programmes that aim to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, by reason of lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided for them.
101. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will extend the closing date for accepting applications for JobBridge in the education sector following her announcement of extending the duration of internships; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39859/13]
View answer107. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the policy rationale underpinning the decision to expand JobBridge internships to 18 months. [39908/13]
View answer108. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a list of all employers that have availed of JobBridge to date; the number of interns each has taken on; the duration of each of these internships. [39909/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 107 and 108 together.
On 18th September, I announced that the maximum cumulative duration of internships would be extended to 18 months. The maximum duration of individual internships will remain 9 months. Individuals will be able to avail of up to 3 internships. Individuals will be permitted to undertake a maximum of one internship with a particular Host Organisation. These changes reflect both the recommendations contained in the independent evaluation of JobBridge published by the Taoiseach and myself on 1st May, 2013, and a significant demand from interns and other individuals made directly to me. This change will be of significant benefit to jobseekers as it will provide jobseekers who may be dissatisfied with their jobBridge placement more flexibility in finding a suitable alternative placement.
However, those changes have not yet come into force. When they do come into force it will be announced on the Home Page of the JobBridge website www.jobbridge.ie. In relation to Education Sector internships, Host organisations can apply for internships in the Education sector, for the current academic year, up to 6th December 2013. This provides sufficient lead-in time for these organisations to advertise appropriate internship opportunities.
At 19th September, there had been 20,912 placements since the scheme commenced. Some 91% of all these placements have had an advertised duration of 9 months. In many cases, internships finish early however, I am encouraged to advise that 63% of all internships are completed early due to the intern securing paid employment. This is a very positive outcome.
At 19th September, 5,446 individuals were actually on internships and 3,061 internship opportunities were advertised on the JobBridge website. A total of 9,965 host organisations have participated in JobBridge since the Scheme commenced. Participation by Host Organisations on the Scheme is voluntary. It is not feasible to provide a full listing of these companies in this PQ response.
The following information was provided under Standing Order 40A
There are approximately 10,000 host organisations which have participated in the JobBridge scheme and these organisations have hosted over 20,000 interns whose internships lasted from a period of a few days up to nine months. The delivery of the information requested by the Deputy would require a manual review of, and reporting on, all of these individual internships and is such that, if it was to be satisfied, it would cause a serious and significant deterioration in the provision of customer service by the JobBridge unit, to the detriment of service to jobseekers.
Separate to the issue of the feasibility of complying with the request is the issue of client confidentiality. Host organisations participate in the scheme on a voluntary basis and receive no payment or other benefit from the State in respect of their participation in the scheme. I believe that in these circumstances the organisations concerned have a legitimate expectation that their participation on the scheme will remain confidential unless we seek their prior permission to publicise their involvement.
In this regard, and notwithstanding that the JobBridge scheme is the most successful scheme of its type in Europe with a progression to paid employment rate of over 60%, a number of host organisations have suffered from intimidation as a result of the publicity surrounding their participation in JobBridge. In consequence a number of host organisations have withdrawn from the scheme for that reason. Accordingly, I believe that the effective operation of the scheme, and the employment prospects of interns, could be significantly impaired if all the names of host organisations were to be released.
The Deputy was provided with the fullest overall figures at the time and has been informed of the operation of the scheme in accordance with the Department’s accountability to the Oireachtas.
102. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide on a county basis in tabular form the number of persons in receipt of farm assist in 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013; and in the same table and on a county basis the cumulative value of the payments in each of those years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39861/13]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is collated by the Department annually for inclusion in the Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services report which is laid before the Dáil when published and copies are lodged in the Oireachtas library. Furthermore these reports are available to the public at www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Annual-Statistical-Information-Reports.aspx.
For the Deputy’s convenience a tabular statement detailing the number of persons in receipt of farm assist and the provisional cost of the scheme for 2011, 2012 and at the 31st of August 2013 follows. Statistics on expenditure at county level are not compiled by my Department.
|
County |
2011 |
2012 |
31st August 2013 |
|
Carlow |
95 |
84 |
78 |
|
Cavan |
407 |
404 |
362 |
|
Clare |
643 |
609 |
573 |
|
Cork |
957 |
922 |
873 |
|
Donegal |
1,491 |
1,534 |
1,519 |
|
Dublin |
35 |
37 |
33 |
|
Galway |
1,137 |
1,112 |
1,056 |
|
Kerry |
819 |
818 |
774 |
|
Kildare |
53 |
53 |
42 |
|
Kilkenny |
154 |
146 |
131 |
|
Laois |
177 |
158 |
137 |
|
Leitrim |
377 |
394 |
387 |
|
Limerick |
247 |
250 |
240 |
|
Longford |
258 |
260 |
252 |
|
Louth |
84 |
87 |
82 |
|
Mayo |
1,869 |
1,813 |
1,739 |
|
Meath |
82 |
93 |
82 |
|
Monaghan |
545 |
504 |
484 |
|
Offaly |
133 |
130 |
111 |
|
Roscommon |
433 |
424 |
411 |
|
Sligo |
315 |
310 |
300 |
|
Tipperary |
402 |
404 |
372 |
|
Waterford |
96 |
92 |
86 |
|
Westmeath |
193 |
197 |
172 |
|
Wexford |
255 |
248 |
233 |
|
Wicklow |
76 |
79 |
72 |
|
Expenditure |
€113,724,000 |
€108,170,000 (Provisional) |
€67,777,000 (Provisional) |
