Written Answers Nos. 176-190
176. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of persons under 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker's allowance who are in receipt of €100, €144 and €188. [11259/15]
View answerThere were 39,746 persons under 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker's allowance who were in receipt of payments at weekly basic rates of €100; €144; and €188 at the end of February 2015. A breakdown of this number by age and rate is detailed in the attached tabular statement.
Under 25 year old recipients of jobseeker's allowance by age and rate at the end of February 2015
|
Age |
€188 |
€144 |
€100 |
Total by age |
|
18 |
138 |
0 |
3163 |
3,301 |
|
19 |
310 |
0 |
4929 |
5,239 |
|
20 |
501 |
0 |
5185 |
5,686 |
|
21 |
654 |
0 |
4986 |
5,640 |
|
22 |
836 |
91 |
4967 |
5,894 |
|
23 |
1542 |
3168 |
2045 |
6,755 |
|
24 |
3448 |
2765 |
1018 |
7,231 |
|
Total by Rate |
7,429 |
6,024 |
26,293 |
39,746 |
177. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of persons under 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker's allowance who have been subject to a penalty rate in each of the years from 2011 to 2014, inclusive. [11260/15]
View answerDuring the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2014, penalty rates were applied a total of 4,878 times to persons under 25 years of age in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.
A breakdown by age and year is given in the attached tabular statement.
Applications of penalty rates in respect of under 25 jobseeker's allowance recipients 2011 to 2014
|
Age when penalty applied |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
Total |
|
18 |
33 |
112 |
216 |
339 |
700 |
|
19 |
30 |
128 |
288 |
425 |
871 |
|
20 |
33 |
108 |
232 |
361 |
734 |
|
21 |
28 |
107 |
250 |
327 |
712 |
|
22 |
28 |
85 |
185 |
339 |
637 |
|
23 |
30 |
87 |
210 |
321 |
648 |
|
24 |
15 |
81 |
183 |
297 |
576 |
|
Grand Total |
197 |
708 |
1,564 |
2,409 |
4,878 |
178. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when the Social Inclusion Forum will be held in 2015; the key themes for the forum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11262/15]
View answerThe annual Social Inclusion Forum will take place on 25th March at the Croke Park Conference Centre. The theme for this year's forum is “Social Innovation for Social Inclusion”. The forum is organised by the Department of Social Protection in conjunction with the Community Workers Co-operative and the European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland.
The forum will incorporate a consultation on updating the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion) for the extended period 2015 to 2017. In addition, there will be workshops on social housing, migrant integration, children's services – prevention and early intervention, and youth exclusion. The forum will also showcase projects involved with the UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty and other social inclusion initiatives.
Approximately 200 delegates are registered to attend from community and voluntary groups across the country, including people experiencing poverty and social exclusion. Officials from government departments and agencies will also be in attendance.
The Social Inclusion Monitor 2013 will be published to coincide with the forum. The purpose of the monitor is to report officially on progress towards the national social target for poverty reduction, including the sub-target on child poverty and Ireland's contribution to the Europe 2020 poverty target.
The forum is an important part of the Government structures to monitor and evaluate the implementation of NAPinclusion. It provides an opportunity for consultation and discussion on social inclusion policies and ensures that the community and voluntary sector has a voice in the development and implementation of policies that affect people in poverty.
A report on the proceedings at the forum will be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas in due course.
179. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the total expenditure on the national implementation of the Youth Guarantee in 2014. [11263/15]
View answerThe objective of the Youth Guarantee is to ensure that young people receive a quality offer of assistance within four months of becoming unemployed. This objective is to be achieved over time by enhancing and prioritising the Intreo engagement with newly unemployed young people, and by maintaining and developing the current range of education, training and employment interventions for young people.
While the resources under the Youth Guarantee are targeted more towards those with the highest risk of becoming long-term unemployed, all young people signing on enter the engagement process (via Group Engagement sessions) within the first two weeks of signing on. Effectively, therefore, all persons under the age of 25 who become unemployed (the target group at whom policies developed under the Guarantee are aimed) are engaged with by the State's public employment services at an early stage of their period of unemployment.
The Youth Guarantee Implementation Plan provided for over 28,000 programme opportunities for unemployed young people in 2014. This figure excludes some 24,000 places provided for young people through PLC courses and apprenticeships. These PLC and apprenticeship places, together with the wide range of vocational third-level courses provided for the young, although not reserved for unemployed jobseekers, nevertheless contribute to the spirit of the guarantee.
Approximately 25,000 of these places had been taken up at the end of December 2014. The estimated full year costs for 28,000 places (excluding PLC and apprenticeships) is €336m. Full data on the actual spend to the end of 2014 is not yet available.
180. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the policy governing her Department's response to requests for access to closed circuit television footage from members of the public identifiable in the footage. [11310/15]
View answerCCTV systems are installed in premises of my Department for security, the promotion of health and safety, and to protect visitor, staff, buildings and facilities.
Recognisable images captured by CCTV systems are personal data. They are therefore subject to the provisions of Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation.
When dealing with requests by individuals for access to their own personally identifiable information or personal data, the policy of my Department is to comply with the relevant provisions in Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation.
181. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No.193 of 17 February 2015, the reason a school (details supplied) in County Donegal has received a fixed rate allocation towards school lunches over the past number of years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11321/15]
View answer182. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 193 of 17 February 2015, if extra funding will be allocated to a school (details supplied) in County Donegal to correspond with the increase of pupils at the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11322/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 181 and 182 together.
The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to some 1,600 schools and organisations which benefits over 207,000 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 scheme through which funding is provided directly to participating schools and local and voluntary community groups who run their own school meals projects. Despite pressure on the social protection budget, the Government allocated an additional €2 million for the school meals programme in 2015, providing a total allocation of €39 million.
The additional €2 million allocated to the school meals programme will be used to increase payments to existing schools which are part of the Department of Education and Skill's initiative for disadvantaged schools 'Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools', (DEIS), with a focus on the provision of breakfast clubs. The Department is currently considering options regarding the allocation of the additional funding.
The school referred to by the Deputy, is a DEIS school, and has received over €239,725 in total funding under the school meals local projects scheme since 2005 and was allocated funding of €18,146 for a lunch club for the current academic year. The Department is reviewing the allocation for the current year and has been in contact with the school directly regarding this matter.
184. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision on a domiciliary care allowance review will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11335/15]
View answerA review of the decision to disallow an application for domiciliary care allowance in this case was requested on the 29th January 2015 and additional information on this child's care needs has been supplied. The application together with the new information supplied will now be re-examined by a deciding officer and a revised decision made, if warranted. The review process can currently take 10 weeks to complete. The person concerned will be notified of the outcome of this review as soon as it is completed.
187. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if a decision has been made on an appeal under the farm assist scheme in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11380/15]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that following an oral hearing of the case in question, the Appeals Officer has referred the case back to a Social Welfare Inspector for further investigation and clarification of certain issues. As soon as the matters in question have been clarified by the Inspector the Appeals Officer will complete his consideration of the appeal.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
188. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost in 2015, and the cost for a full year, of raising the cut-off age for the one-parent family payment scheme to 12 years. [11406/15]
View answerThe costings data that the Deputy has requested is currently not available in my Department. Given the complex nature of the request, my Department will provide the information directly to the Deputy in due course.
189. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection when a decision on review of a carer's allowance will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11413/15]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that the appeal from the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer who has decided to hold an oral hearing in this case on 30th March 2015. The person concerned has been notified of the arrangements for the hearing.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
