Tá trí Mheastacháin ann i gcóir mo Roinne. Tá fúm le cead an Chinn Comhairle agus and Tighe an gnáthchleachtadh a leanúint agus na trí Mheastachán a chur i gcrích le céile. Féadfaidh na Teachtaí ceisteanna a phlé faoi aon cheann de na trí Votaí insan díospóireacht i na dhiaidh sin.
Is iad na trí Mheastachán agus na suimeanna atá dá lorg ón Státchiste i gcóir na bliana 1960-61, mar a taisbeántar i n-Imleabhar na Meastachán:
Vóta 55, Oifig an Aire Leasa Shóisialaigh, £503,600. Vóta 56, Árachas Sóisialach, £4,255,000. Vóta 57, Cúnamh Sóisialach, £21,354,000.
Ba mhaith liom é a chur in iúl go soiléir nach gcuireann na suimeanna a luadh i gcóir Árachais Shóisialaigh agus Cúnamh Shóisialaigh san áireamh costas Pinsean (Ranníocach) Sean Aoise nó na méadaithe eile i rátaí sochair agus cúnaimh atá ceaptha. Déanfar an soláthar is riachtanach cucha siúd trí bhíthin Meastacháin Fhoirlíontaigh am is sia anonn sa bhliain airgeadais.
Is é iomlán na dtrí Mheastachán £26,112,600 méadú de £190,400 ar an iomlán i gcóir na bliana roimhe seo de £25,922,200 i na raibh Vóta Foirlíontach de £587,000 i gcóir Cúnaimh Shóisialaigh curtha san áireamh.
In the Estimate for the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare a net sum of £503,600 is provided to meet the salaries and other administration expenses borne on that Vote. The main variations, as compared with the previous year's Vote, are increases of £61,000 for salaries and wages under Subhead A and £10,000 on Subhead D, offset by increased Appropriations-in-Aid totalling £47,720.
The increase on Subhead A is mainly due to the pay increases granted to civil servants with effect from 15th December, 1959. The increase on Subhead D is attributable to an additional provision of £10,000 for postal expenses in connection with social insurance. As the House is aware, the Department's costs of administering the social insurance scheme are payable out of the Social Insurance Fund and are appropriated in aid of the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare. The increase of £47,720 in the Appropriations-in-Aid subhead is mainly due to the increased provisions for salaries and postal expenses already referred to.
In the Estimate for Social Insurance, provision is made under Subhead A for payment by the Exchequer into the Social Insurance Fund of the estimated amount by which the expenditure of the Fund will exceed its income in 1960-61. The estimated amount is £4,218,000. This figure does not, however, include any Exchequer liability arising in connection with old age (contributory) pensions and the proposed increases in insurance benefit rates.
The figure of £4,218,000 is the difference between the present estimates of expenditure and income of the Social Insurance Fund in the current financial year.
The expenditure of the Fund as now estimated is £10,810,000 made up as follows:—
|
£
|
Disability Benefit
|
4,046,000
|
Unemployment Benefit
|
2,920,000
|
Widows' and Orphans' (Contributory) Pensions
|
2,079,000
|
Treatment Benefit
|
240,000
|
Maternity Benefits
|
116,000
|
Marriage Grant
|
75,000
|
Administration
|
1,334,000
|
Total
|
£10,810,000
|
The estimated income is £6,592,000 consisting of £6,000,000 from employment contributions and £592,000 in income from investments of the Fund. The State subvention to the Fund under Subhead A of the Vote is £116,000 less than the corresponding provision for 1959-60. This is the net result of variations, up and down, in the items constituting the expenditure and income of the Fund.
On the expenditure side, the main increases are £82,000 for widows' and orphans' (contributory) pensions, £56,000 for administration costs and £50,000 for disability benefit, offset by a reduction of £190,000 in the provision for unemployment benefit.
The increase of £82,000 in the estimate for widows' and orphans' (contributory) pensions is due to an increase in the number of pensions payable and to the fact that there will be 53 pay-days in 1960-61, as compared with 52 in the previous year. The increase of £56,000 in the provision for administration costs is mainly due to the Civil Service pay increases already mentioned. As regards disability benefit, the increase of £50,000 is to cover the estimated cost of benefit issues to certain long-term claimants in the last week of March, 1961, made necessary by the fact that Easter Sunday in 1961 will fall on 2nd April. But for the early occurrence of Easter in that year the expenditure would fall into the financial year 1961-62.
The reduction of £190,000 in the provision for unemployment benefit is based on the reduction which occurred in the numbers of persons claiming benefit in 1959-60 and on a continuation of that improvement into 1960-61. The reduction would have been £67,000 greater but for the provision of that sum to cover the estimated cost of an extra pay-day which occurs in 1960-61.
On the income side, the total Estimate shows an increase of £119,000 over the previous year's provision. The principal item in this sum is an estimated additional £100,000 from employment contributions. The balance represents an expected increase in the income from investments of the Social Insurance Fund.
Before leaving the subject of social insurance, I should mention that the provision for treatment benefit included in the estimated expenditure—£240,000 —does not cover the cost, now estimated at £50,000, of improvements in the treatment benefit scheme in relation to insured persons under 21 years of age.
Because of the difficulty experienced by adolescents over school-leaving age in obtaining a continuation of the dental treatment afforded during school life, it was decided to ease the contribution conditions for the grant of treatment benefit for insured persons in the 16-21 age group. The Social Welfare (Treatment Benefit) (Amendment) Regulations, 1960, which came into operation on the 2nd March, 1960, provide that in the case of insured persons under 21 years of age the number of employment contributions required to be paid from the date of entry into insurance to the date of claim for treatment benefit is reduced from 156 to 26. Thus, a new entrant into insurance between the ages of 16 and 21 should normally qualify for treatment benefit (which includes both dental and optical benefit) after 26 weeks of insurable employment instead of waiting for a minimum period of 3 years, as heretofore.
As regards the Social Assistance Vote, the net Estimate for 1960-61 as shown in the Book of Estimates is £21,354,000. As I mentioned earlier, this sum does not include the cost of the increases from the beginning of August next in old age pensions, blind pensions, widows' (non-contributory) pensions and unemployment assistance.
I should also mention that the figures shown in the 1959-60 columns in the Estimates Volume do not include the increases in last year's Estimates rendered necessary by the improvements in the assistance services which took effect from the beginning of August last year. These increases were voted in a Supplementary Estimate which was passed in March last after the Volume of Estimates was published. The net amount of the Supplementary Estimate for Social Assistance for 1959-60, which allowed for net savings of approximately £82,000 on the original Estimate, was £587,000.
When allowance is made for the Supplementary Estimate for last year, the net increase of £873,000 for the Social Assistance Vote over last year's provisions shown in the Volume of Estimates becomes £286,000. This increase is the net result of variations, up and down, but can be largely attributed to increases, as compared with the revised provisions for last year, of £315,000 on old age pensions, £23,000 on children's allowances and £41,000 on widows' and orphans' (non-contributory) pensions, offset by a reduction of £85,000 on unemployment assistance and an increase of £6,000 in the estimated Appropriations-in-Aid.
The provision of £11,300,000 for old age pensions is £900,000 higher than the original Estimate for this subhead last year. The increase is, however, reduced to £315,000 when a supplementary provision of £585,000 for this service last year is taken into account. The increase is due partly to the provision for a full year instead of for eight months of the increase of 2/6 a week granted from the beginning of August last year and partly to the fact that there are 53 pay-days in the current financial year. The increase would have been greater but for a reduction in the estimated numbers of old age pensioners in 1960-61. This reduction follows a downward trend in recent years in the estimated population aged 70 and over.
As regards children's allowances, the original provision for this subhead in 1959-60 was £7,126,000. In the framing of the Supplementary Estimate for the Social Assistance Vote in that year it was considered that there would be a saving of £40,000 on the subhead with the result that £7,086,000 would suffice. The estimate for the current year is £7,109,000. The increase of £23,000 is due to an upward trend in the number of children for whom allowances are payable.
The estimate for widows' and orphans' (non-contributory) pensions is £1,748,000. This shows an increase of £121,000 on the original provision for the previous year. As, however, the original provision was increased by £80,000 in the Supplementary Estimate last year the increase for this year over the revised figure for 1959-60 is £41,000. This increase is due to the provision for a whole year instead of for eight months in respect of the cost of the increases operative from August of last year and to an additional pay-day in 1960-61. The increase as compared with last year would have been greater but for the fact that the provision for 1960-61 allows for a continuance of the fall in the number of pensions in operation which is a feature of the non-contributory scheme at present.
The reduction of £85,000 on the estimate for unemployment assistance to which I have already referred is on the provision of £1,225,000 for 1960-61 as compared with £1,310,000 for the previous year. The latter figure is the original estimate of £1,350,000 for 1959-60, adjusted to take account of savings estimated at £40,000 in that year. The savings in that year would have been greater but for the increases in unemployment assistance rates which became operative last August. The decrease of £85,000 in the current year is based on the expectation of a continuance of the favourable trend last year when the number of applications for unemployment assistance was lower in each week than in the comparable week of the previous year.