asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will state (a) the number of claims for widows' pensions, and (b) the number of claims for orphans' pensions received by him up to and including January 3rd, 1936; whether he will state further the number of (a) childless widows, (b) widows with dependent children, and (c) orphans, to whom pensions were paid on January 3rd, 1936; whether he will state in respect of the childless widows, the average weekly rate of pension paid on January 3rd, 1936, and in respect of widows with dependent children the average number of such dependent children in respect of whom allowances were claimed and the average amount, including the children's allowances, paid to each such widow, and whether in respect of the orphans he will state the number of such orphans being maintained by guardians and the number maintained in institutions, and the average weekly payment in each case.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Widows' and Orphans' Pensions
The number of claims for widows' (non-contributory) pensions received up to and including 3rd January, 1936, is 21,351. The number of claims for orphans' (non-contributory) pensions received up to and including 3rd January, 1936, is 470; the total number of non-contributory pensions paid to widows as from 3rd January, 1936, is 6,737. It is not possible at present to state how many of that number were paid to childless widows and how many were paid to widows with dependent children, nor in the case of widows with dependent children the average number of such children in respect of whom allowances were claimed. Arrangements are being made to have such statistics normally available in future but it is not considered desirable at this stage to occupy time in their extraction which should be devoted to the investigation of claims. The average weekly rate of non-contributory pension paid to all widows is 6/8; the number of orphans in respect of whom pensions have been granted as from 3rd January, 1936, is 90, 84 of whom are being maintained by guardians. In these cases the average weekly payment is 2/11. It is not proposed to pay individual pensions weekly in the case of orphans maintained in institutions. The payments will be made in bulk at the end of each half-year.
Can the Minister say if the Act is being administered according to the intentions indicated in his statement?
Yes.
In view of the number of deserving cases excluded owing to the fact that the present Act was so tightly drawn, will the Minister consider the question of introducing amending legislation?
We have not had much experience of the working of the Act yet. It has been in operation less than a month.
Surely the Minister agrees that the number of claims made is far less than he anticipated when he introduced the Act.
That is so.
Is the Minister aware of the fact that that is due to the numbers excluded owing to the Act being so tightly drawn?
No, I do not think so.