17 May 2011

Parliamentary Questions

• Number of appeals lodged for disability allowance in 2008, 2009 and 2010
• Number of social welfare of appeals lodged in 2008, 2009 and 2010
• Speedy processing of entitlements and services for parents who have children with disabilities and care for them full-time
• Fees paid from NDA to IBEC
• Funding for training for persons with intellectual disabilities in Dublin South-West and Dublin West
• Plans to ensure special needs assistant positions and resource hours are not cut from schools
• Panel of SNAs
• Number of teachers and teaching supports
• Free dental treatment plan for people with disabilities

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Number of appeals lodged for disability allowance in 2008, 2009 and 2010

Deputy John O’Mahony (FG): asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of appeals lodged for disability allowance in 2008, 2009 and 2010 in tabular form; the number of theses appeals that were successful;

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton): Figures regarding the numbers of disability allowance appeals which received a favourable decision in 2008, 2009 and 2010 are given in the table that follows this reply. Overall, the number of appeals determined by appeals officers which had a favourable outcome for appellants — either allowed or partially allowed — were 3,288 (35%) of 9,423 determined in 2008, 3,695 (37%) of 10,027 determined in 2009 and 4,747 (27%) of 17,499 determined in 2010. 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 on social welfare entitlements.

• Number of social welfare of appeals lodged in 2008, 2009 and 2010

Deputy John O’Mahony (FG): asked the Minister for Social Protection the numbers of appeals lodged in 2008, 2009 and 2010 and a breakdown of each category in tabular form; the number of theses appeals that were successful;

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton):  Figures in regard to the numbers of cases received by category for 2008, 2009 and 2010 are given in the tables that follow this reply. Overall, the number of appeals determined by appeals officer which had a favourable outcome for appellants (i.e. either allowed or partially allowed) were 3,288 (35%) of 9,423 determined in 2008, 3,695 (37%) of 10,027 determined in 2009 and 4,747 (27%) of 17,499 determined in 2010. These outcomes do not necessarily relate to the appeals received in these years. 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 on social welfare entitlements.

• Speedy processing of entitlements and services for parents who have children with disabilities and care for them full-time

Deputy Eoghan Murphy (FG): asked the Minister for Social Protection the measures in place to ensure the speedy processing of entitlements and services for parents who have children with disabilities and care for them full-time; the improvements that are proposed;

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Joan Burton):  The payments relating to disabled children administered by the Department include domiciliary care allowance and carer’s allowance. Domiciliary care allowance is a payment to the parent or carer of a child who has a disability so severe that it requires the child to need care and attention or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months. Every application is assessed by one of the Department’s Medical Assessors. An individual medical opinion, based on the information submitted by the applicant in support of their claim, is offered in each case. The deciding officer then makes a decision having considered the medical opinion provided and all the other information available. Applications for domiciliary care allowance are processed by date of receipt. It currently takes approximately eight weeks to process an application, which is in line with target. Entitlement to carer’s allowance is based on satisfying medical, means and residency conditions. In determining entitlement to the allowance there are, in certain cases, unavoidable time lags involved in making the necessary investigations and enquiries to enable accurate decisions to be made. Delays can also arise if people applying for the allowance are not in a position to supply all the necessary information at the time of submitting their claim. Carer’s allowance applications are currently taking approximately 12 weeks to process. A total of 3,815 applications were registered in the first three months of 2011 and 3,883 were processed in the same period, there are currently 4,509 applications awaiting a decision. The main reason for the deterioration in the processing time for carer’s allowance is due to staff being engaged in work on a major service modernisation project involving the development of IT functionality and associated business reorganisation. This work involves a significant level of data clean-up and related work to ensure the 51,000 existing carer’s allowance customers can be successfully transferred onto the new IT platform. It is anticipated that the new system will introduce significant processing efficiencies and a quicker and more responsive service to the customer. I am pleased to say the modernisation project is currently on target for delivery in July 2011. The staff and other resources available to the Department are regularly reviewed having regard to the workload and competing priorities and the position continues to be kept under review. 

• Fees paid from NDA to IBEC

Deputy Dominic Hannigan (L): asked the Minister for Justice and Equality    the number of State agencies or organisations under his remit that are paid-up members of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation; the name of each agency or organisation; the amount each State agency or organisation paid to the Irish Business and Employers Confederation for the years 2007 to 2010, inclusive, and to date in 2011; Minister for Justice and Equality (Deputy Alan Shatter):  I can inform the Deputy that no State Agencies or organisations within my Department’s remit are currently paid up members of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC). While the National Disability Authority (NDA) was a member of IBEC, membership was terminated with effect from 2010. The following amounts were paid by the NDA to IBEC for the years 2007-2009:January 2007 —€1,505.93;January 2008 —€1,719.00;January 2009 —€1,642.60. 

• Funding for training for persons with intellectual disabilities in Dublin South-West and Dublin West

Deputy Catherine Byrne (FG): asked the Minister for Health and Children    the position regarding funding for rehabilitation training for persons with intellectual disabilities in Dublin South-West and Dublin West; the number of adults awaiting approval of funding; the number of under 18 year olds awaiting approval of funding; the number of places likely to be funded in 2011;

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Kathleen Lynch):  As the Deputy’s question relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. 

• Plans to ensure special needs assistant positions and resource hours are not cut from schools

Deputy Peter Mathews (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Skills    his plans to ensure special needs assistant positions and resource hours are not cut from schools;

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn): I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts as well as a temporary suspension of the allocation of additional resource teaching support hours. In respect of SNA support, the NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for the 2011/2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of SNA support to eligible schools. The NCSE asked schools to submit all applications for SNA support to them by 18th March, 2011 and intend to inform schools of their annual SNA allocation as soon as possible, in advance of the coming school year.In respect of resource teaching support, the NCSE has issued a Circular to schools advising them that the final date for schools to submit any outstanding, completed, applications for resource teaching supports is 13th May 2011. On receipt of all outstanding applications the DES and NCSE will be in a position to consider resource allocation for the coming school year, in the context of the Departments Employment Control Framework obligations. Schools, including the application referred to by the Deputy, will be notified of their allocations as soon as possible. In the interim, children who are eligible for resource/ learning support teaching can receive this tuition through the existing learning support provision in schools. 

• Panel of SNAs

Deputy Áine Collins (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Skills when a special needs assistant finishes in a school will they be put on a panel for their next job; and if not, the way same will operate.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn):  Firstly, I wish to advise the Deputy that Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations are not permanent, as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. They are also decreased where a child’s care needs may have diminished over time. There are no plans to introduce a panel for SNA’s. I wish to advise the Deputy also that the recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for the individual Principal/Board of Management. The Board is the SNA’s employer and the terms of employment are subject to the conditions of the contract of employment.The Deputy may be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and SNAs to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department’s criteria in allocating such support. This now includes a requirement for the NCSE to have regard to an overall cap on the number of SNA posts.The NCSE has issued a circular to all schools advising of the allocation process for the 2011/2012 school year. A key feature of the amended scheme will be to provide for an annual allocation of Special Needs Assistant support to eligible schools. The NCSE asked schools to submit all applications for SNA support to them by 18th March, 2011 and intend to inform schools of their annual SNA allocation as soon as possible, in advance of the coming school year. 

• Number of teachers and teaching supports

Deputy Michael McCarthy (L): asked the Minister for Education and Skills    the number of retired teachers, resource teachers and special needs assistants who, in 2009 and 2010, were re-hired by the education system on a short-term or contractual basis in tabular form;

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Ruairí Quinn):  The information sought by the Deputy is not available in the requested format. There were one hundred and eighty six retired primary teachers in receipt of a pension paid on the primary payroll of the 12th May 2011. One hundred and forty seven post-primary retired teachers in receipt of pension will be paid on the post primary payroll of the 19th May. There were two Special Need Assistants in receipt of pension paid on the non teaching staff payroll of the 12th May 2011. 

• Free dental treatment plan for people with disabilities

Deputy Sandra McLellan (SF): asked the Minister for Health and Children    his plans to introduce a free dental treatment plan for those with special needs;

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy Róisín Shortall):  While the dental treatment services scheme has been restricted to emergency and priority care since April 2010, these restrictions do not apply to medical card holders with special needs, for whom a comprehensive service is available free of charge.

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