Vol. 451 No. 1
15 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will ensure that we have an effective welfare system which will minimise the risk of poverty in view of the distribution of resources in the 1995 Budget which showed that eliminating or at least minimising poverty was not a major priority. [6123/95]
The improvements in the social welfare area which I am implementing this year will cost £90 million in 1995 and £212 million in a full year. This is additional expenditure and is not based on cutbacks in other areas of social welfare which was a device used by previous Governments. Total expenditure this year on social welfare will be in excess of £4,000 million. What is of real significance, however, and what distinguishes this budget from all previous budgets is the approach we have taken. The strategy in this year's social welfare budget is to give everyone a general increase and then to target particular areas of poverty with substantial additional resources. Families with children are universally recognised as being at greatest risk of poverty and in this year's budget I have taken a significant step towards addressing this issue.
The £7 per month across the board increase in child benefit announced in the budget which will cost over £90 million in a full year, demonstrates my firm and unwavering commitment to those who are at greatest risk of poverty in our society, namely, families with children. In the vast majority of cases the payment is made to women and recent research has shown that women tend to spend more of their income on children and on household expenses than men. Consequently, this payment is a particularly effective way of targeting resources. Directing income support for children through child benefit will also help relieve one of the worst poverty and unemployment traps in the existing systems, arising from the loss of child support when a person takes up employment.
