Written Answers Nos. 144-153
144. Deputy Frank O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will remove the word disabled from the vehicle tax disc of primary certificate holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35337/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Disabled Drivers and Disabled Passengers Scheme, which is the responsibility of my colleague the Minister for Finance, provides an exemption from the payment of annual motor tax for a vehicle which has been admitted to the scheme. Only the word “exempt” appears on a motor tax disc that is issued in relation to such a vehicle.
145. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department collects statistics from local authorities on homeless presentations for families with dependants as well as single households and households without dependants, as opposed to persons living in emergency accommodation; and if not, his views on whether his Department has an accurate picture of the true scale of homeless needs in different areas. [35371/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe official homelessness data reports provided by housing authorities are produced using the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), the single integrated national data information system on the State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. These reports are published on my Department's website as soon as they are available and can be accessed using the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data
These reports contain details of adult individuals and households with dependants placed in emergency accommodation and the various types of emergency accommodation in which they are placed. While they do not contain details of those that present to housing authorities as homeless but are not placed in emergency accommodation, generally those considered homeless by a housing authority, having regard to the criteria set out in Section 2 of the 1988 Housing Act, will avail of emergency accommodation that is overseen and funded by housing authorities and therefore appear in the official homelessness data reports.
Furthermore, households that meet the eligibility criteria, have a housing need and have applied to their local authority for social housing support are placed on the housing waiting list. The oversight and management of housing waiting lists is a matter for the individual housing authorities in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations.
146. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the funding that has been made available to each local authority in 2016 and 2017 for building rapid build units; the number of projects and the number of units that will be built. [35385/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraFunding for the delivery of rapid build housing units is being made available, as part of the overall significant increase in my Department’s capital funding for the provision of social housing units. The funding that is being provided is in addition to funding for those social housing projects that have already been approved and will not impact on their progress.
As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is working closely with the four Dublin local authorities in relation to the Rapid Delivery Programme. 22 rapid build units have already been delivered as a pilot project and are occupied; €3.789 million has been recouped to Dublin City Council in respect of this project to date.
Dublin City Council is currently advancing a number of other rapid build projects, including on four sites at Finglas, Darndale, Cherry Orchard and Drimnagh, which will deliver a further 131 units. While budgets have been approved in respect of these four projects, the amounts involved have not been made publicly available at this stage, given the market sensitivity of the information at a time when similar procurements are underway or are due to commence shortly. These units will be handed over to Dublin City Council on a phased basis from the end of the year and delivery will be completed early in 2017.
Further work is underway across the four local authorities, which will bring to 350 the total number of rapid delivery homes advancing through various stages of delivery, including construction, by the end of the year, on additional sites in Dublin city and on sites in Dun Laoghaire, Tallaght, Blanchardstown and Balbriggan. Work is also underway to support the delivery of a further 650 units over the course of 2017.
147. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his Department's estimates for the average cost of a rapid build unit. [35386/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraEstimates set to date for rapid build units have been based on standard unit cost ceiling data held by my Department for standard social housing units. Recently returned tenders analysed have supported this approach, with the average tenders being returned within 5% of the unit cost ceiling data, which is considered to be a successful outcome. Given that there are procurements either underway or planned to commence shortly on a number of projects, it would not be appropriate, at this stage, to make information available on average costs for recently completed procurements, given the market sensitivity of the information.
All rapid build homes are required to comply with the minimum standards of the Building Regulations and the requirement for a 60 years durability, as for general social housing, in which case it is not anticipated that there would be any significant departure from normal build costs.
148. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of tenancies in RAS, HAP and any long-term leasing programme; the annual cost to the State arising from these schemes and the number of tenancies which have transferred directly into HAP from rent supplement since the scheme was introduced. [35404/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department operates three current expenditure funded schemes in which units are sourced from the private rental sector for social housing use. These are the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP), formerly the Social Housing Leasing Initiative which was initiated in 2009; the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) initiated in 2005; and the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme which was established in 2014.
SHCEP supports the delivery of social housing by recouping to local authorities the cost of long-term lease agreements that are entered into with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) or private property owners and developers. Properties made available under SHCEP are used to accommodate households from local authority waiting lists. Leased properties are allocated to tenants, in accordance with the relevant local authority's allocation scheme.
The table sets out the annual expenditure on the SHCEP since its inception in 2009 to the end of September 2016. The annual Exchequer provision for the Programme funds the full year cost of the ongoing contractual commitments of leases and contracts, and the cost of new contracted units that become operational under the Programme during the year. €57 million was provided in my Department’s Estimate for the Programme in 2016, and €84 million will be available in 2017. Expenditure in 2015 included a self-funding element of €7.933 million which was funded by local authorities from built up RAS reserves. At the end of Q4 2015, there were 7,099 social housing units operational under the Programme, and in the 9 months to end Q3 2016, an additional 638 new units had become operational.
|
Year |
SHCEP Outturn |
|
2009 |
€642,178 |
|
2010 |
€3,774,920 |
|
2011 |
€13,817,464 |
|
2012 |
€20,814,526 |
|
2013 |
€27,362,615 |
|
2014 |
€34,844,781 |
|
2015 |
€42,150,239 |
|
2016 (to end Sept) |
€28,165,770 |
RAS, which commenced in 2005, is a targeted scheme that allows households to transfer from rent supplement to social housing if they have been in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or more. RAS tenants can find their own private rent accommodation or a local authority can source that accommodation. The landlord tenant relationship is a three-way relationship – the landlord has landlord responsibilities but also signs a contract with the local authority to secure the use of the unit. The local authority pays the rent to the landlord in return. The tenant pays the local authority differential rent.
The following table sets out the annual expenditure on RAS since its inception in 2005 to the end of September 2016. The annual Exchequer provision for the scheme covers recoupments made to local authorities in respect of the contracted rents due to landlords, and deposits on newly acquired accommodation. €135 million was provided in my Department’s Estimate for the scheme in 2016, and €134 million in 2017. Expenditure in 2015 and 2016 included a self-funding element of €14.85 million and €13.4 million, respectively, which was funded from built up RAS reserves. At the end of Q4 2015, there were 20,834 tenancies supported under the scheme, and in the 9 months to end Q3 2016, an additional 930 new transfers had been completed.
|
Year |
RAS Outturn |
|
2005 |
€723,280 |
|
2006 |
€6,199,980 |
|
2007 |
€27,384,837 |
|
2008 |
€53,025,430 |
|
2009 |
€83,394,513 |
|
2010 |
€100,076,430 |
|
2011 |
€115,917,365 |
|
2012 |
€125,429,966 |
|
2013 |
€130,886,608 |
|
2014 |
€133,512,889 |
|
2015 |
€136,639,464 |
|
2016 (to end Sept) |
€98,003139 |
Under the HAP scheme, which has been rolled out incrementally since the initial pilot in 2014, households find their own accommodation in the private rented market. The local authority will make a monthly payment to the landlord, subject to rent limits depending on the household size and the relevant local authority area, on behalf of the tenant. The tenancy is between the tenant and the landlord and is covered under the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended). The local authority is not a party to the tenancy. The tenant pays a rent contribution based on the household’s income; the rent contribution is calculated in the same way as the differential rent paid by a tenant of a local authority owned property.
The following table sets out the costs of the HAP scheme to my Department, which includes the cost of landlord payments and local authority administration, from its inception to the end of September 2016. €47.7 million was provided in my Department’s Estimate for the scheme in 2016, and €153 million will be available in 2017. At the end of Q4 2015, there were 5,853 households being supported under the scheme, and in the 9 months to end Q3 2016, an additional 8,727 new HAP tenancies had been set up, of which 2,960 had transferred from the Rent Supplement scheme. In total, as at the end of Q3 2016, some 5,059 households had transferred from the Rent Supplement scheme to HAP since the scheme was introduced.
|
Year |
HAP Outturn |
|
2014 |
€394,472 |
|
2015 |
€15,643,829 |
|
2016 (to end Sept) |
€ 29,853,881 |
149. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the amount of money granted to rural resettlement each year since 2012 in respect of the Government's commitment to rural resettlement; the current uptake of the scheme; if he will reinstate funding to Rural Resettlement Ireland, whose funding was cut in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31151/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has overall responsibility for regional and rural affairs and will be advancing a broadly-based rural development strategy, in the context of commitments under the Programme for a Partnership Government. While there is no specific rural resettlement programme operated by my Department, the recently published Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness includes a range of measures supportive of the regeneration and renewal of towns and villages across rural Ireland and, consequently, ensuring a vibrant population in those places. It is my aim that all steps are taken to secure the re-use of vacant and under-utilised properties for residential purposes, particularly in the many towns and villages in rural Ireland that contain a significant number of empty houses. Action 5.1 of the Action Plan relates to the development of a National Vacant Housing Re-Use Strategy and I intend to examine the potential to widen the geographical range of social housing location options available to persons seeking such accommodation.
The Strategy will examine the potential for bringing existing but vacant housing back into beneficial use. I intend to examine mechanisms to match such accommodation potential to prospective applicants for social housing, through measures such as the Repair and Leasing Initiative, which will see up-front financial assistance being made available to upgrade empty, but sub-standard, accommodation in return for leasing the property back for social housing purposes. Acquisition and leasing options are also available to local authorities to ensure that households needing accommodation may be provided with that accommodation.
The development of a rural resettlement programme will be considered further, in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, in the context of taking forward these measures, the details of which are set out in the Action Plan, which is available on the website, www.rebuildingireland.ie.
150. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Social Protection if all staff working in Intreo offices have received disability awareness training; the full cost of training those persons who have not yet received disability awareness training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35268/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department of Social Protection supports its staff by offering a suite of disability awareness training, including Disability and Deaf Awareness, Dealing with Blind Customers, and Mental Health Awareness. The Department also offers courses in Stress Awareness, SafeTALK suicide awareness and ASIST suicide prevention. These are available to all staff in the Department, including staff in Intreo Offices. Specific figures for take-up of these courses by staff in Intreo offices are not available. However in the last three years, 2,100 staff attended over 140 instructor-led training courses in these areas. In addition, e-learning courses developed for front line public servants by the National Disability Authority (NDA) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) are freely available online to all staff via the Department’s Staff Development intranet site. During 2016, in the context of Departmental commitments under Pathways to Work 2016-2020 to extend and intensify proactive engagement for people with a disability, 67 dedicated Case Officers were nominated across the Intreo network. The Department’s Staff Development Unit provided a Disability Awareness Seminar in March 2016 for these Case Officers with speakers from the National Disability Authority and Epilepsy Ireland. This was supplemented by tailored instructor-led training nationally in Employment Supports for People with Disabilities.
Induction and orientation training given to staff highlights the range of Departmental supports and grant-aid available for both staff and clients with disabilities. These include employment supports for jobseekers with disabilities such as the Wage Subsidy Scheme, EmployAbility Services and the Reasonable Accommodation Fund.
The Department has a dedicated Staff Disability Liaison Officer who maintains awareness of disability issues and services among staff, including managing the Department’s active participation in the Irish Association for Supported Employment’s Job Shadow Initiative and AHEAD's Willing, Able, Mentoring Programme. The Department also provides translation, interpretive and Irish Sign Language services as required and is committed to the provision of information in alternative formats where feasible.
Ongoing liaison, via the Department’s Disability & Illness Policy Unit, with the National Disability Authority (NDA) and the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) ensures that information on relevant events and seminars is communicated to Departmental staff. As recently as September 2016, Case Officers from around the country attended an NDA Seminar on Supported Employment.
It is estimated that the cost of providing disability awareness training to all staff in the Department would be approximately €150,000.
151. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Social Protection the money allocated to the various schemes under the reasonable accommodation fund from 2012 to date in 2016 in tabular form; the actual expenditure on this fund for the same period; the efforts made by his Department to raise awareness of this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35269/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe reasonable accommodation fund for the employment of people with disabilities assists employers in the private sector to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability/impairment to have access to employment by providing a range of grants. These grants and supports include:
- the workplace equipment and adaptation grant,
- the personal reader grant,
- the job interview interpreter grant, and
- the employee retention grant.
The reasonable accommodation fund is a demand led scheme in that expenditure arises in response to applications received. Given the small size of each of these grants, a separate estimate for each of these schemes is not set out in the revised estimates volume. The actual expenditure on this fund is set out in the table.
Awareness of this scheme is promoted through a range of channels including through the Department’s website and by means of employer engagement opportunities and job fair events. Moreover, the EmployAbility service, which is funded by the Department of Social Protection, regularly disseminates information on the reasonable accommodation fund to both people with disabilities and private sector employers. Furthermore, under the One DSP Learning initiative, introduced in 2015, a module covering Employment Supports for People with a Disability is available to Case Officers working in the Intreo service. This module covers all the DSP grants and supports available to people with a disability, thereby providing Case Officers with the appropriate knowledge to promote the scheme.
Table: Expenditure on the Reasonable Accommodation Fund for People with Disabilities
|
Year |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016* |
|
Workplace equipment and adaptation grant |
€71,176 |
€81,724 |
€61,776 |
€58,108 |
€39,903 |
|
Personal reader grant |
€27,274 |
€27,526 |
€14,499 |
€11,866 |
€14,313 |
|
Job interview interpreter grant |
€6,355 |
€2,767 |
€1,589 |
€3,950 |
€6,881 |
|
Employee retention grant |
€4,320 |
€0 |
€0 |
€0 |
€0 |
|
Total |
€109,125 |
€112,017 |
€77,864 |
€73,925 |
€61,097 |
*To date.
152. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Social Protection if his Department has considered extending the wage subsidy scheme to those in receipt of the partial capacity benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35270/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe partial capacity benefit (PCB) scheme is designed for people who are on illness benefit, for at least six months, or on invalidity pension and who have retained some capacity for work and wish to work. If awarded, PCB will allow them to continue to receive, in addition to their earnings from employment, a percentage of their illness benefit or invalidity pension payment while working.
The wage subsidy scheme (WSS) is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities and thereby increase the numbers of people with disabilities participating in the open labour market. The scheme provides financial incentives to private sector employers to hire people with a disability for between 21 and 39 hours per week under a contract of employment.
The issue of extending the WSS to participants on the PCB scheme has been considered in a number of Department of Social Protection reviews, including a review of the WSS, completed in 2013 and a review of the PCB scheme, which was undertaken in 2015. The issue was also examined in the context of a recent review of the operational guidelines for the WSS. However, there is no decision to extend at this time.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
153. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress to date in determination of an application for disability allowance in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35280/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI confirm that my department received an application for disability allowance from this lady on 5 October 2016. On completion of the necessary investigations on all aspects of the claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main qualifying criteria, the person’s circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
