Vol. 474 No. 1
19 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he has established the working group which is to consider access to the live register for women; and if he will set out the proposed terms of reference of the group. [2364/97]
Under the Partnership 2000 agreement recently negotiated, a working party including relevant Government Departments and the social partners will be established to examine the question of equal access by women to labour market opportunities, including training, education and employment programmes.
In response to my proposal, it was agreed informally by Government to invite the social partners, the National Women's Council and the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed to participate in a working party with the Departments of Social Welfare and Enterprise and Employment to examine the underlying issues that need to be discussed in this matter and to make recommendations to Government.
The issues involved, which have been the subject of a recent campaign organised by the National Women's Council and the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, are important and I have already put in place a range of measures designed to provide more comprehensive information and advice to women in this regard. These measures include: an information leaflet entitled "Signing on the Live Register" which is now available at all my Department's local offices. This leaflet gives information on the live register, details about unemployment payments and credited contributions and full details about employment schemes, training courses and educational opportunities and how to qualify; access to the services of my Department's locally based job facilitators to inform and advise on the various options available; advice to spouses of unemployed persons in relation to their right to sign on the live register where such spouses satisfy the conditions to do so and advice about the option which is currently available under the community employment and part-time job opportunities programme which allows a person to participate in either of these schemes in place of his or her spouse.
Partnership 2000 recognises that women should not be penalised with regard to the availability of employment supports, including training and that they should have equal access to all labour market opportunities. I will soon consult the various groups and I hope to set up the working group as soon as possible.
There is blatant discrimination by the Department of Social Welfare against women. It is hard to believe that in 1997 there are still many women here who cannot participate in social welfare schemes while all men can participate in them. A lady whose husband gets unemployment assistance had a query last week about the back-to-work allowance scheme. When she got a job and tried to get the benefit of the back-to-work allowance scheme, she was informed that because she was a spouse and a dependant of her husband she could not benefit from the scheme but if her husband got the job he could benefit from it. What kind of system is it that it discriminates so blatantly against women?
The Deputy can choose any scheme designed for a specific purpose and say it does not suit somebody else. A widow's pension cannot be paid to a person who is not married. There are conditions that apply to every scheme. The back-to-work allowance scheme is specifically aimed at the registered long-term unemployed. The purpose of the scheme is to seek to assist those people off the live register into work. It may be — I do not know the details of the specific case referred to — that the lady in question may have been entitled to be on the live register. Either because she did not know of that right or because she chose not to exercise that right, she did not qualify for the back-to-work allowance scheme. It is impossible to devise every scheme to suit every category and every circumstance.
Under the new arrangements I will introduce this year, the family of the person referred to will be enabled to retain the adult dependant's allowance even though her earnings would exceed £60 per week on a tapered basis. This will be of significant assistance to the family and the particular lady to enable her to work when she wishes without any major loss of income. We are moving to eliminate as many of the anomalies as possible. I am about to set up a working group to examine the ways in which access to various schemes by women can be improved.
I suspect the main concern about access to schemes is access to the community employment scheme. Already there is provision whereby spouses can swap their entitlement to participate on a community employment scheme. It was not I who required that to participate in the community employment scheme, one must be on the live register. That requirement was established in the past to target community employment schemes at the long-term unemployed. Many thousands of women participate in community employment schemes because they have a live register record or are lone parents. There are anomalies in the system but we are seeking, by way of Government decision and by way of our commitment in Partnership 2000, to address those anomalies.
What are the terms of reference for the proposed working group? Will the Minister give a commitment that nobody will be discriminated against by his Department because of gender?
I am pleased the Deputy raised that question because the 1997 Social Welfare Bill will eliminate the last vestiges of gender discrimination from the social welfare code. I am pleased the Deputy has given me an opportunity re-emphasise that point.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
