Vol. 511 No. 1
34 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the hardship being caused by the fuel allowance of £5 per week which has not changed in 12 years; his views on whether there is need to increase this taking into consideration the cost of fuel and gas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20851/99]
52 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will increase the free fuel allowance. [20377/99]
64 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on whether the fuel allowance should be significantly increased to at least £15 per week. [23610/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 52 and 64 together.
The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders who are on long-term social welfare or health board payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. A payment of £5 per week, £8 per week in smokeless zones, is paid to eligible households for 26 weeks from mid-October to mid-April. In order to be eligible for assistance under the national fuel scheme, the person must satisfy a means test. A substantial improvement in the means test was introduced by me in the 1999 budget. A person may now have a combined household income of up to £30 per week or savings/investments of up to £22,400 over and above their pension and still qualify for fuel allowance.
Expenditure on the national fuel scheme has increased by approximately 20% in the last six years from £37.5 million in 1993 to £44.9 million in 1998. This year a sum of £46.4 million has been provided in the Estimates for the scheme. To increase the £5 fuel allowance to £15 per week would cost an estimated additional £75 million in the present fuel season. While the last increase in the fuel allowance was in October 1985, fuel price inflation has been much lower than general price inflation. The fuel and light component of the consumer price index, rose by 9.6% between August 1985 and August 1999.
The national and smokeless fuel schemes were reviewed in 1998 as part of my Department's series of programme evaluations. The review group took the view that improvements in the national fuel scheme cannot be looked at in isolation from the improvements in the primary weekly payment rates. The group concluded that the present rates of payment should remain unchanged if improvements in primary payment rates fully compensated recipients for all price inflation, including fuel price inflation. In that regard, substantial increases in all the social welfare primary payments of either £3 or £6 per week were paid from June 1999.
