Written Answers Nos. 14-20
14. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the reason Labour Court recommendations on pensions for community enterprise supervisors and assistant supervisors are not being adhered to; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33014/15]
View answerCommunity Employment Supervisors are not employed by the Department of Social Protection. These Supervisors are employees of private companies in the community and voluntary sector and are not part of the public sector. The State is not responsible for funding pension arrangements for employees of private companies, even where those companies are reliant on State funding in whole or in part. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform confirmed this position to this Department in March 2015.
Supervisors and sponsors have made no contribution towards the cost of the pension arrangements currently being sought from the Department. In addition, the provision of State funding for a CE pension scheme could result in potential claims from employees of other companies in the community and voluntary sector who are funded to a greater or lesser extent by the State.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s position is that private companies contracted by the State to provide a service, including those in the community sector, must manage their expenditure, including labour and pension costs, from within existing funding levels.
15. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her Department's role in alleviating the current housing crisis. [33028/15]
View answerThe primary responsibility for provision of accommodation for homeless persons rests with local authorities. The Department’s role with regard to people who are homeless is mainly income maintenance. Under the social welfare system, homeless people have entitlement to the full range of social welfare schemes, including supplementary welfare allowance (SWA), subject to the normal qualifying conditions.
The Department, including through its Homeless Persons Unit and Asylum Seekers & New Communities Unit in Dublin, works closely with local authorities, Government agencies and the voluntary sector in assisting homeless persons to access private rented accommodation. This ensures that, where possible, people are diverted away from homeless services and towards community-based supports. Department officials are actively engaged at a local level with the Homeless Action Teams (HATs) and Non-Government Organisations working in the area of homelessness.
Rent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme currently supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of over €298 million in 2015, with over 13,700 tenancies awarded this year. In view of the difficulties experienced by persons as a result of the limited supply in the private rented market, the Department has implemented a range of preventative measures assisting some 4,000 rent supplement households throughout the country to retain their accommodation.
Under the Exceptional Needs Payments (ENPs) scheme assistance may also be provided towards rent deposits or rent in advance. This year, approximately 1,700 payments have issued at a cost of €1 million.
The Department continues to engage with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that people are informed of the supports available and that they continue to be provided.
16. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of families currently in receipt of child benefit; the total cost involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33086/15]
View answerChild benefit is a universal payment made to families with children. It assists those families with the cost associated with raising children. Child benefit is payable at the monthly rate of €135 per child and is in payment to over 615,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children. The expenditure on child benefit in 2014 was €1.91 billion. The estimated expenditure for 2015 is €1.97 billion.
17. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if the WALK peer project or a similar scheme based on this model under the disability activation project will be re-opened and-or expanded. [33144/15]
View answerThis project was one of 14 disability activation projects (DACT), in the Border, Midlands & West region, which were jointly funded (€7m) by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Social Protection (DSP), from the end of 2012 to April 2015.
The objective of the DACT project was to explore a variety of routes towards ensuring that people with disabilities were enabled to avail of progression, education and development opportunities within the world of work.
In relation to WALK Peer, the project supported a total of 119 participants during the lifetime of the project, with 12 participants remaining in education or some form of employment after 12 months.
A key criterion applied when selecting projects was that any learning from the projects should be capable, where appropriate, of being mainstreamed in the future, but there was never any question of the projects turning into service delivery organisations in their own right.
DSP commissioned Indecon International Economic Consultants to undertake an independent evaluation of the DACT project. The evaluation report will be examined by an inter-Departmental group, chaired by the Department and comprising of the National Disability Authority and representatives of Departments who have commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES) to consider the findings and appropriate next steps. It is also envisaged, that as part of its work, representatives from some of the DACT projects will be afforded an opportunity to engage with the working group.
18. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will restore the respite care grant to its 2012 rate. [33088/15]
View answerThe Respite Care Grant (RCG) is an annual non means-tested payment of €1,375 made to carers by the Department. Full time carers who are not in receipt of a carers payment from the Department are also entitled to the grant. The estimated cost of the RCG, in 2015, is in excess of €124 million in respect of over 90,000 recipients of care.
Any increase in the rate of the RCG can only be considered by the Government in the context of deliberations on the overall budget for 2016.
19. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her Department has carried out a review of the current level of rent supplement and the impact the reduction of same has had on homelessness. [33038/15]
View answerRent supplement plays a vital role in housing families and individuals, with the scheme supporting approximately 65,000 people at a cost of €298 million in 2015.
Over 13,700 rent supplement tenancies have been awarded this year, of which almost 4,300 are in Dublin, showing that significant numbers are being accommodated under the scheme.
A review of the rent limits undertaken earlier this year found that the impact of increasing limits at a time of constrained supply will increase costs disproportionately for the Exchequer with little or no new housing available to recipients. Rather than increasing limits at this time rent supplement policy will continue to allow for flexibility where landlords seek rents in excess of the limits.
This flexible approach has already assisted approximately 4,000 households throughout the country to retain their rented accommodation through increased rent payments. In addition, the Department, in conjunction with Threshold, operates a special Protocol in the Dublin and Cork areas where supply issues are particularly acute, with plans to extend this arrangement to Galway City.
The Department, including through its Homeless Persons Unit in Dublin, works closely with local authorities, Government agencies and the voluntary sector in assisting homeless persons to access private rented accommodation. This ensures that, where possible, people are diverted away from homeless services and towards community-based supports. Department officials are actively engaged at a local level with the Homeless Action Teams (HATs) and Non-Government Organisations working in the area of homelessness.
I can assure the Deputy that I am keeping this matter under review and where Departmental staff are notified of a threat of tenancy loss these preventative measures are implemented as appropriate.
20. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she is aware that some State agencies require employees who wish to avail of voluntary redundancy to sign compromise agreements; the extent to which her Department is aware of the practice and if any concern exists that such agreements may present less favourable conditions to signatories than standard or typical redundancy agreements; if she will provide a list of all Departments and State agencies that currently, or have at any time in the past five years, required staff who avail of voluntary redundancy to sign compromise agreements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33018/15]
View answerTerms and conditions in relation to the employment of staff of State agencies is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin T.D.
Therefore the issue of the terms of any redundancies for these staff would be a matter in the first instance for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
