Written Answers Nos. 88-97
88. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason the cost of providing broadband is not an allowable expense to a person under the farm assist payment scheme; if he will review this with a view to changing the condition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15194/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFarm Assist is one of a range of means social assistance schemes operated by my Department. The means test for these schemes takes account of the income and assets of both the claimant and his or her spouse/partner, including the earnings and assets of the spouse. No account is taken of the value of the family home.
Where a claimant or their spouse has income from self-employment, including farming, the income is taken to be the gross income less expenses necessarily incurred in carrying out the business or activity. There is no exhaustive list of all expenses allowed in self-employed cases, since expenses vary with the nature of the self-employment; however, expenses can include, among other things, the cost of materials, depreciation of machinery, insurance, electricity and telephone costs. It should be noted that deductions in respect of any expenses are limited to the proportion of such costs necessarily incurred in operating the business. Similar arrangements would apply to broadband expenses associated with carrying out a business and the amount of expenses allowed would be limited to the proportion of such costs necessarily incurred in operating the business and this may vary on a case by case basis.
89. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of teachers who have been employed on the JobBridge scheme per year, in tabular form, since the scheme came into operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15243/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraJobBridge, the National Internship Scheme, was introduced in July 2011 in response to the unprecedented collapse in the economy – particularly the sharp increase in unemployment.
The primary aim of the scheme is to give unemployed people the opportunity to secure work experience and prove their competence to prospective employers. To date, Job Bridge has attracted the voluntary participation of more than 47,500 participants, with almost 4,000 people currently on internships.
The numbers of people who have taken up internships advertised as teacher roles is outlined in Appendix 1.
Appendix 1
|
Year |
No. of teacher positions |
|
2011 |
8 |
|
2012 |
30 |
|
2013 |
28 |
|
2014 |
24 |
|
2015 |
13 |
|
2016 |
3 |
|
Grand Total |
106 |
90. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Social Protection if he is aware of the widespread concerns of the Irish Postmasters Union in respect of recent correspondence issued by his Department regarding payment of jobseeker's payments through financial institutions other than post offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15103/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am aware of the concerns of the Irish Postmasters’ Union. In respect of payments my Department provides two main options for payment methods for its customers: payments direct to customer accounts in financial institutions or payments in cash at post offices.
In 2015 my department made over 38 million cash payments at Post Offices at a cost of €54 million. These welfare payments through post offices are across all of the department’s major schemes: state pension, jobseekers, one parent family payments, widow/ers or survivors pensions, carers payments, disability payments and child benefit.
I want to emphasise that for the vast majority of my department’s schemes the department’s customers are given the choice of what payment method they wish to receive their social welfare payment. The vast majority of new customers choose to have payments made directly into their accounts in financial institutions which reflects a societal trend towards payment by electronic funds transfer. For example, 83% of new Child Benefit customers and 70% of new State Pension customers chose this option in 2015.
Many of my department’s customers are in employment. My department’s focus must be on our customers and to this end my department’s policy is to make payments to in-work customers directly to accounts rather than customers being inconvenienced by two separate payment methods.
My department has a cohort of jobseeker customers who are classified as casual jobseekers. These are in-work customers who can claim a jobseekers payment for 2 to 3 days per week or who work week on/week-off. These customers were paid by cheque each week.
Those customers were paid by cheque due to the changing nature of their work/claiming patterns and the short turn-around time to issue payments. It is important to note that they were not paid via post offices under the department’s existing cash payments contract with An Post.
My department has developed its payment capacity in respect of changing work and claiming patterns and is offering payments direct to accounts in financial institutions for casual Jobseeker customers thereby increasing customer convenience. This is in line with wider departmental policy where the focus is on ensuring that in-work customers are paid by the most convenient method possible.
My department has written to all of these casual jobseekers offering the option of a payment to an account. The vast majority have responded and opted for payment to an account.
If customers wish to continue to be paid by cheque they can make their preference known to their local social welfare office which handles their claim.
The recent “Kerr Report” sets out the challenges that An Post and Postmasters face as they seek to ensure that the post office network remains relevant in the context of the inexorable shift towards electronic payments.
My department is engaging as appropriate with the Departments of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources and Public, Expenditure and Reform in addressing the recommendations of the report.
91. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social Protection to consider increasing the maximum rate of widow's pension. [15105/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are three main schemes operated by the Department which are payable to widows, widowers and surviving civil partners: a contributory pension, a death benefit pension and a non-contributory pension. The latter scheme is only payable to widow/er’s and surviving civil partners under 66 years of age with no children – claimants aged 66 and over can apply for the non-contributory state pension and claimants aged under 66 with children can apply for the one-parent family payment.
The Department’s allocation for 2016 is €1.4 billion for expenditure on the contributory pension for 2016, €7.5 million for the (contributory) death benefit pension and a further €15.8 million for the non-contributory pension. This represents 7.25% of the Department’s overall expenditure for 2016. At the end of April 2016, there were almost 120,000 recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s contributory pension.
The rates of payment on these schemes differ depending on the age of the recipient. For those aged 66 and over, the maximum rate is €233.30 per week for recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s contributory pension and €237.70 for recipients of the widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s death benefit pension, while for those under 66 of age, the maximum rates are €193.50 and €218.50 per week for the contributory and death benefit pensions, respectively. The widow/er’s and surviving civil partner’s non-contributory pension has a rate of €188 per week.
Recipients of these schemes aged 66 and over may also benefit from the living alone allowance, the household benefits package, fuel allowance and the free travel scheme.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to increase the rate of pensions and the living alone allowance above the rate of inflation. The appropriate level of supports for widows, widowers and surviving civil partners will be considered in a budgetary context.
92. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of restoring the six-monthly scale and polish entitlement under the dental treatment benefit scheme. [15141/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra93. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of restoring the extended gum cleaning entitlement under the dental treatment benefit scheme. [15142/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra94. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of restoring cover for fillings under the dental treatment benefit scheme. [15143/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra95. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the expenditure on the six-monthly scale and polish entitlement under the dental treatment benefit scheme in 2009. [15144/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra96. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the expenditure on the extended gum cleaning entitlement under the dental treatment benefit scheme in 2009. [15145/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra97. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the expenditure on fillings under the dental treatment benefit scheme in 2009. [15146/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 92 to 97, inclusive, together.
All of these questions (PQ 15141 through to 15146-16) relate to expenditure on certain dental treatments in 2009 and the potential cost of re-introducing these treatments.
The treatments available under the dental benefit scheme were limited in Budget 2010 to an annual free dental examination. The cost in 2009 of the three treatments specifically referred to is detailed in the table below.
It should be noted that it is not possible to accurately project the potential cost of any reintroduction of these treatments, for a number of reasons:
1. Possible changes in dental attendance patterns,
2. Fees paid for the various treatments in 2009 may differ from the actual cost of these treatments in 2016, and
3. The effect that any pent-up demand would have on volumes availing of the scheme is unclear.
2009 Dental expenditure on selected dental treatments.
|
- |
2009 cost (€m) |
|
Scale and Polish (6 monthly) |
€16.8 million |
|
Extended Gum cleaning |
€0.46 million |
|
Fillings |
€20.68 million |
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
