Vol. 575 No. 1
232 Mr. O'Connor asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the priorities of her Department for the coming years in the context of the Estimates for 2004; if her attention has been drawn to the huge interest in these matters; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27944/03]
For the most part, the 2004 Estimates for social welfare spending, as in previous years, represent the cost of implementing unchanged priorities in the various programmes and services provided by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and its agencies. Normally, the Government sets out its priorities for social welfare spending in the coming year in the context of the budget and the Government's priorities in terms of its commitments will be made known at that time.
The 2004 Estimates provide that total social welfare expenditure will rise to a record €10.65 billion in 2004, representing over 30% of total Government spending. Compared to 1997, total social welfare expenditure will have almost doubled. This has enabled substantial improvements to be made, not alone in the rates of social welfare payments, but also in the conditions for entitlement to these services.
Approximately 970,000 people on average will be in receipt of a weekly social welfare payment next year, while almost 1.5 million people, including dependants, will benefit from these payments.
The level of resources being allocated to social protection measures clearly illustrates the Government's continuing commitment to protecting the position of the people who are less well off in society.
Some of the main areas of increased social welfare expenditure provided for in the 2004 Estimates include child benefit which will be increased by €70 million, old age contributory pension which will increase by €51 million, disability allowance which will increase by €40 million and supplementary welfare allowance which will increase by €72 million.
However, to counter the emergence of some spending pressures on the social welfare side and to ensure that spending stays within agreed Government guidelines, a number of measures were identified and announced with the Estimates. These spending pressures emphasise the need for my Department to ensure careful management of the social welfare budget to ensure that the resources are focused at those most in need.
The priority in identifying these measures was to protect the most disadvantaged. Accordingly, measures have been identified so as to limit spending on new claimants where there is an alternative source of income; to target the effectiveness of a labour market intervention as in the case of back to education allowance; or to address anomalies in the social welfare system such as by adjusting the level of graduated payments to reflect increases in rates over the past ten years. For the most part, these measures will not affect existing claimants, but will apply to new claimants from various dates in 2004.
