Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
386. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of bills her Department has published since March 2011; the number of regulatory impact assessments that her Department has published since March 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29299/14]
View answerI have published nine Bills since taking office, eight of which have been enacted. Details of these Bills are set out in the table.
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.
A Regulatory Impact Analysis is not ordinarily undertaken on the package of tax, welfare and other measures announced in the annual Budget Day Statements. As most of the Social Welfare Bills which have been published since March 2011 have provided for the implementation of various budgetary measures, RIAs have not been considered necessary in relation to these measures. Social Welfare Bills also provide for a range of other miscellaneous and technical amendments to the social welfare code and these types of amendment are not considered amenable to the undertaking of an RIA.
Where significant non-budgetary changes have been provided for in the Bills which I have published, Regulatory Impact Analyses have been undertaken. Two such RIAs have been published since March 2011. One of these RIAs relates to amendments to the funding standard applying to defined benefit pension schemes, which were provided for in Part 3 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012. This RIA is available at http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/riapension.pdf.
The other RIA relates to the measures to provide for the transposition of certain aspects of Directive 2010/41/EU on the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity, in so far as they relate to ensuring that the spouse or civil partner of a self-employed worker can benefit from social protection in accordance with national law. The amendments necessary to transpose these provisions are contained in section 19 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014 (as passed by Dáil Éireann). This RIA is available at http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/RIADirective2010-41-EU.pdf.
In addition, Part 4 of the Social Welfare and Pension (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 implemented the recommendations of the Critical Review of the Pension Board. This review, which involved a public consultation process, was carried out under the Public Service Reform plan. This review is available at http://www.welfare.ie/en/pressoffice/pdf/Report-of-the-Critical-Review-23-April-2013.pdf.
Part 3 of the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2013 provided for changes in the manner in which the resources of a defined benefit pension scheme are distributed on the wind up of a pension scheme. On the publication of this Bill, the Department of Social Protection also published a report by Mercer on the changes to occupational pensions. This report undertook a detailed modelling exercise of different approaches to the changes to the order of priority given to the disbursement of assets when a defined benefit pension scheme winds up. This is available at http://www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/Mercer-Review-of-Pension-Scheme-Wind-Up-Priority.pdf.
The Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2012 provided for an extension of the list of bodies authorised to solemnise marriages. As these changes were of a minor nature, an RIA was not considered necessary in the case of this Act.
Bills Initiated by Minister for Social Protection since March 2011
|
Title of Bill |
Status |
RIA Undertaken |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 |
Enacted 29th June 2011 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare Act 2011 |
Enacted 19th December 2011 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2012 |
Enacted 1st May 2012 |
RIA undertaken on Part 3 of Act |
|
Social Welfare Act 2012 |
Enacted 21st December 2012 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2012 |
Enacted 26th December 2012 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 |
Enacted 28th June 2013 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 |
Enacted 9th November 2013 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill 2013 |
Enacted 25th December 2013 |
Not considered necessary |
|
Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2014 |
Published on 28th May 2014 and currently before the Oireachtas |
RIA undertaken on section 19 of Bill |
