Vol. 483 No. 4
19 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans, if any, in his Department to ensure that means testing of social welfare payments poses as little disincentive as possible; if so, if these plans include the co-ordination of means testing with the Department of Health and Children and health boards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20608/97]
I am very conscious of the need to ensure that the social welfare system is capable of meeting the twin aims of providing critical income support while also encouraging and facilitating people who wish to gain access to education, training and employment.
The development of means testing across the range of social welfare schemes has, therefore, taken account of the need to ensure that disincentives are minimised. Recent developments in this area include, for example, the means test associated with the one parent family payment scheme which was introduced earlier this year. The structure of the means test is such that it acts to encourage and facilitate lone parents to enter the active labour force by enabling claimants to earn up to £6,000 a year without affecting their entitlement to the payment. This measure recognises that unemployed lone parent families are particularly at risk of poverty and is designed specifically to encourage such people to gain a foothold in the labour market, thereby reducing their dependence on social welfare payments.
Similarly, the means test associated with the unemployment assistance scheme has been restructured to make it easier for claimants to avail of casual and part-time work opportunities and to ensure that they are always better off as a result of doing so. Under the improved arrangements, which came into effect in November 1996, where a person works for up to three days a week, earnings are now assessed at 60 per cent. In addition, persons without children are allowed a £10 disregard for each day worked, while the balance of earnings are assessed at 60 per cent. These changes simplify the system of assessment of earnings from employment and thereby improve the incentive for unemployed people to take up casual and part-time work opportunities. The improved measures are designed to ensure that claimants have an incentive to work at all levels of earnings, even where the level of pay is less than the rate of unemployment assistance.
In general terms, the principle of consistency across all social welfare means tests is desirable, but this must also be balanced with the need to ensure that the social welfare system retains enough flexibility to be able to respond to the specific needs of differing categories of customers.
Regarding co-ordination of means testing generally, the lack of integration between the various social services administered by Government Departments and State agencies has been a matter of concern for some time.
The report of the interdepartmental committee on the development of an integrated social services system, published in 1996, sets out a framework for the development of an integrated approach to the administration, delivery, management and control of publicly funded income support services. The basic objective is to introduce greater coherence to the provision of these services. One of the issues being addressed in this context is the question of sharing information within and between agencies involved in the delivery of social services. These would include my Department, the health boards, local authorities and so on.
The Deputy will be aware of the requirements and obligations set out under the Data Protection Act to protect the privacy interests of individuals when information about them is processed. My Department is currently in the process of examining proposals which will allow for the sharing of data, under specified circumstances and with the knowledge of the customer, between the various agencies and having regard to requirements of the Data Protection Act.
The ultimate aim is to have a situation where the customer will be required to give the relevant means data to one agency only. That agency can then make it available, where appropriate, to any other agency, where the customer has made a claim for an allowance, grant, etc. This will lead to a more co-ordinated service to the customer.
I thank the Minister for his detailed reply. I am glad he shares my concerns. I do not see why somebody should have to undergo a means test for unemployment assistance and, if benefit is refused, undergo another means test by the Department of Health and Children. Surely it should be possible to transfer the information already obtained by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs to a health board or from a health board to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs?
It would be preferable to have a standardised means test system. That is one reason the Department and the health boards started the integrated social services scheme a number of years ago, whereby there would be sharing of information. We have to work within the constraints of the Data Protection Act. My Department is looking at ways of moving the matter forward. However, at the end of the day we are subject to the decision of the data protection officer. My Department and the data protection office have been in contact in an effort to progress the matter. Everyone agrees there should be co-ordination in assessing means and, while we are working towards this, it is a slow process.
I am stressing this matter because it was also raised by the Minister's party when it was in Opposition. If the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs refuses an application for unemployment assistance, will the Minister ensure the information in the document is made available to the applicant so that he can present it to the community welfare officer in the Department of Health and Children?
Such a system is already in place in the North-Eastern Health Board area. Applicants who are refused unemployment assistance no longer have to bring a note to the community welfare officer: the information is sent by computer. This computerisation system, which was put in place in the North-Eastern Health Board area some months ago and mainly paid for by my Department, will be extended to all other health board areas.
I am glad this is the case and I ask the Minister to give serious consideration to extending the system.
