Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 2

Written Answers. - Commission of Studies and Reports.

Tony Gregory

Question:

66 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social Welfare the names of all studies and reports commissioned by this Department since the year 1986; the date on which each was completed; the reports or studies which were published; and the reason those which were published were withheld.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

The following table sets out the studies and reports commissioned by my Department since 1986 with their publication dates:—

Report	Publication Date
Report of the Commission on Social Welfare	July 1986
First report of the National Pensions Board	January 1987
National Pensions Board — report on the extension of social insurance to the self-employed	January 1988
National Pensions Board — report on the tax treatment of occupational pension schemes	January 1988
Report on Review of Payments Systems by Craig Gardner, Management Consultants	May 1988 (summary)
National Pensions Board — report on equal treatment for men and women in occupational pension schemes	May 1989
Report of the working group on the treatment of households in the social welfare code	May 1991
Final report of the National Pensions Board — developing the national pension system	December 1993
Interim report of the Expert Group on the integration of the tax and social welfare systems	January 1994

Since 1986, my Department has produced three annual reports covering the years 1985-86, 1987-88 and 1989-91 which were published in 1987, 1989 and 1992 respectively. An annual statistical report for each year since 1986 has also been published.

In addition, my Department has commissioned a number of studies and reports on various aspects of the social welfare system, including information technology strategies, which were for internal use only and which were not intended for publication by the Department.

Currently, my Department has commissioned two reports from the Economic and Social Research Institute. One of these reports concerns the identification of factors which are associated with short or long term poverty, based on the 1987 survey of poverty and income distribution which was carried out by the institute. The Department has also been involved with the institute in the development of a computer-based system to model the tax liabilities and social welfare entitlements of households and the institute is preparing a report which outlines certain results from this in relation to the family income supplement scheme. It is anticipated that both reports will be available in 1994.