Vol. 369 No. 10
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if the Government has yet concluded its consideration of the report of the Commission on Social Welfare; if any recommendations of the report have been identified for priority implementation; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
23.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare the steps, if any, which have been taken to date to implement some of the priorities identified in the report of the Commission on Social Welfare, and if she will give details of these plans.
it is proposed to take Questions Nos. 16 and 23 together.
Following formal publication of the report of the Commission on Social Welfare on 6 August, I invited views from interested organisations on the recommendations of the commission by 31 October. A larger number of submissions have been received and these are now being considered by my Department.
A great deal of progress has been made in evaluating the recommendations of the commission. I expect to be in a position to report to the Government on the matter early in the New Year. Given the overall budgetary constraints which exist, it must be accepted that the degree of progress which can be made in implementing those recommendations of the commission which have serious cost implications, is limited. However, whatever progress can be made to be made within these constraints will be made. Priority will also be given to implementing recommendations for rationalisation and simplifying the various social welfare schemes and improving the delivery of services which do not have significant cost implications but which would greatly improve the overall effectiveness, efficiency and fairness of the social welfare system for all those who are dependent on it as well as for those who administer it.
I would also like to point to a number of measures which have already been taken and which are in line with the commission's recommendations. Higher levels of payments have been provided for the long-term unemployed in each of the past four years which have gone part of the way to reducing the gap between the payments made to them and to other social welfare beneficiaries. The three pilot projects for the long-term unemployed which were introduced this year are significant steps towards developing a flexible approach to the unemployed which was recommended by the commission.
Significant progress has also been made in improving the delivery of the Department's services. There has been a major reorganisation of the Department which has involved the setting up a separate Social Welfare Services Office. This will enable the officials involved to concentrate more fully on effective management and the provision of an efficient and speedy delivery of services. Computerisation of the Department's services has also been greatly advanced with the number of claims dealt with by the computer system being increased from 100,000 in December 1983 to over 1 million at present.
The system of controls operated by the Department to prevent abuse of social welfare schemes and fraud has been tightened up and independent consultants are currently helping in a further systematic review of these controls to see where weaknesses remain and to find cost effective ways of remedying them.
I might suggest to the Minister that her rather long-winded reply did not relate in any way to the subject of the question tabled.
A question, please, Deputy.
There is great concern among many sections of the community —those who are suffering, on the one hand, and on the part of those endeavouring to help them on the other — about the attitude of the Government. Might I ask the Minister has that attitude changed because, when the report of the Commission on Social Welfare was first published, the Government Information Service were quite dismissive of the report, when all they were prepared to concede were the actual costs involved? A considerable time has elapsed and we were told over the past couple of years——
A question, Deputy, please.
I am in the process of asking the Minister. Since so much time has elapsed since that report was produced, have any of the priorities been identified by the Government? For instance, have they identified the possibility of rationalising the child dependency allowances and targeting increased dependency children's payments to lower income groups, such as the unemployed? Have they decided to improve the family income support? What views have they in relation to children's allowances, in relation to such items as the family income supplement and targeting more support for large families? Have any of these priorities yet been identified by the Government? Is there any intention to introduce a minimum income for those who are on low incomes?
That is an extremely long question. As I said in my reply, I will be reporting to the Government on the whole question of the report of the Commission on Social Welfare early in the new year. I would also be doing a grave discourtesy to all the groups so very much concerned with this question were I to proceed to make statements in this House or elsewhere on their conclusions without having taken their submissions into account. Whereas I agree with the Deputy that all of the points he raised are very important, they will all form part of the report which I will be making to the Government as soon as I possibly can on the whole question of the Commission on Social Welfare.
Is the Minister sympathetic to the recommendations in the report in relation to priorities? At this stage is she prepared — or in the near future — to allay the worries and fears of those who were quite concerned at the dismissive attitude that emanated from Government sources on the initial publication of the report?
Priority Question Time does not give the Deputy priority over Standing Orders.
Just to answer the concluding part of that question, obviously there was no question of a dismissive attitude on my part or on the part of the Government to the report of the Commission on Social Welfare, no question whatsoever. The chairman of the commission has made that clear publicly very many times.
