asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will explain, by giving details of expenditure under the heading "agency services in connection with social assistance", the original 1983 Estimates and also the additional sums required under the same heading.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Estimates.
574.
Details of the original estimate and the additional sum required for agency services in connection with social assistance in 1983 are as follows:—
|
Nature of the Service provided by Department of Posts and Telegraphs |
Original Estimate |
Additional sum Required |
|
Payment of orders (including the cost of water- marked paper where appropriate) |
£ |
£ |
|
Old Age Pensions (Non-Contributory) |
2,880,000 |
1,042,000 |
|
Children's Allowances |
2,750,000 |
994,000 |
|
Unemployment Assistance |
923,000 |
334,000 |
|
Social Assistance Allowances |
263,000 |
95,000 |
|
Widows’ and Orphans’ (Non-Contributory) Pensions |
218,000 |
79,000 |
|
Issue of fuel vouchers |
77,000 |
28,000 |
|
Miscellaneous Services |
45,000 |
16,000 |
|
Total |
7,156,000 |
2,588,000 |
The sum of £2,588,000 covered additional amounts due to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in respect of 1981 (£717,000), 1982 (£1,743,000) and 1983 (£128,000) and were based on revised estimates furnished by that Department in respect of those years. The revised estimates were necessitated by pay awards to Post Office staff and an increase in the number of encashments of pension and allowance orders.
575.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will explain, by giving details of expenditure for postal services, the original 1983 Estimates and also the additional sums required under the same heading.
The estimate for postal expenses for any year is based on the number of items which it is estimated will be posted in that year at the prevailing postal rates. When actual costs become available subsequently from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs based on actual postings and actual postal rates an adjustment is made.
The original estimate for 1983 provided for 23 million items of post in the year at an average cost per item of 26p. This amounted to £5,980,000 and an amount of £4,000 was added to cover the cost of postings to destinations outside the State giving a total original estimate of £5,984,000.
Revised statements of postal expenses furnished by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in respect of 1981, 1982 and 1983 based on actual returns of postings for the two former years and more up-to-date estimates for the latter year indicated that a further sum totalling £7,251,000 was due split as follows 1981 — £3,856,000, 1982 — £2,015,000 and 1983 — £1,380,000. At the time the original estimates for 1981 and 1982 were furnished firm up-to-date figures for the numbers of postings or average postal rates were not available because of the postal dispute in 1979. The extra costs arose therefore out of increases in the volume of postings and increases in postal charges by comparison with the original estimate.