Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirligh agus go raibh maith agat as an fáilte a chuir tú romham anseo. Seo an chéad uair dom anseo mar Aire Gnóthaí Sóisialacha agus Teaghlaigh agus tá an-áthas orm a bheith i bhúr measc. An rud a thug mé faoi deara ó thosaigh mé sa phost seo ná an méid duine atá ag braith ar nó ag fáil cabhrach ón Roinn agus an chaoi a thrasnaíonn an Roinn ar ghach teaghlach sa tír. I look forward to working with the Department, the Chairman and the committee.
As the Chairman observed, our income and support services impact on the lives of almost every person in the State. Each week more than 1 million people receive a social welfare payment, with more than 1.5 million individuals benefiting from those weekly payments. In addition, child benefit payments reach more than 560,000 families, comprising almost 1.2 million children, every month. Supporting families is an important objective of the Department. Families are the basic unit of society, providing the natural framework for the emotional and material support essential to the growth and well-being of their members. The scale and pace of change affecting the family in recent decades are unprecedented and represent significant challenges for society and policymakers.
I intend to ensure resources, improved services, targeted entitlements and more individually directed social supports converge to provide the foundations on which people can build better lives for themselves and their families. This is not simply a matter of increasing social welfare rates. It is also about ensuring our policies focus on enabling each individual to achieve his or her full potential. Everybody, regardless of particular abilities, can contribute in a meaningful way to society generally and, more importantly, become an integral part of his or her local community. This contribution will vary depending on individual circumstances. For some, it will be their contribution as family carers, while for others, it will be their role in the wider voluntary and community sectors. For many more, it will be their participation in education, training and employment.
In this regard, I intend to pursue a full and challenging policy agenda. This includes the following: ensuring the ambitious income support targets in the programme for Government are progressed in the coming years, with a particular focus on the needs of vulnerable groups; developing a long-term framework on pensions, following completion of the consultation process on the Green Paper on pensions; finalising a new social assistance payment for low income families with children, including lone parents; developing a national carers strategy in co-operation with relevant Departments and agencies; ensuring social welfare recipients are facilitated to participate in education, training and employment through the delivery of targeted activation services and by eliminating disincentives in the way social welfare schemes are structured or delivered; and overseeing the transfer of the community welfare service from the HSE to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
Providing a high quality service for the public will also be a priority. The high level of interaction that the Department has with the public is evident from the fact that in any given year we receive some 2 million claims and applications and 6.5 million telephone calls take place. A formidable logistical operation is required to administer some 50 separate welfare schemes and services and ensure people are paid promptly and accurately, while ensuring value for money and safeguarding the public purse from fraud or error. The Department, rightly, gives importance to the highest standards of customer service and is engaged in a multi-year programme of service enhancement using the most modern technology and work processes. My role as Minister is not simply to oversee this very substantial operation but to ensure our social and family policies meet the needs of 21st century Ireland.
The Government has worked hard to ensure the remarkable economic success in the last decade or so has resulted in benefits to all, including the more vulnerable and marginalised members of society. Basic social welfare rates have increased by nearly 142% since 1997, over three times ahead of the 47% increase in the consumer price index, or a real increase of 65%. These changes were given strategic direction by the national action plans on social inclusion which were developed and implemented in consultation with the social partners and the other relevant stakeholders.
Many of the operational and policy challenges I have mentioned so far also feature as important targets in the annual output statement which members of the committee have before them. The annual output statement is a key element of the reforms to the budget and Estimates process announced by the then Minister for Finance in the 2006 budget. The primary purpose of the statement is to enhance accountability and provide clearer evidence of the results of public spending by linking key outputs and strategic impacts to the financial and staffing resources of the Department.
The first annual output statement was presented last year. This year's statement reports on performance against the targets set for 2007, as well as identifying targets for the year ahead. It is worth emphasising that the annual output statement process is very much a work in progress, both for Departments and officials, as well as the members of the various Dáil select committees. I would welcome any feedback the committee might have on this initiative.
Before going into the finer detail of the many figures before committee members, I wish to highlight the following overall expenditure figures. Total spending on social welfare by the Department has increased by €1.5 billion, or 9.7%, from €15.4 billion in 2007 to €16.9 billion this year. This corresponds to over 29% of total gross current Government expenditure and 10% of gross national product. Nearly 15% will go on the universal child benefit scheme. Social Insurance based schemes will account for 45% of total expenditure this year. Means-tested social assistance schemes come to nearly 37%, while administration costs account for less than 3% of total expenditure. The increase in this year's Estimates' allocation reflects both the increase in recipient numbers on most schemes and the improvements in rates of payment and other conditions announced in the budget.
Budget 2008 was the first important step in implementing the various commitments in the programme for Government. There were a number of key improvements. The maximum personal rates of contributory and non-contributory pensions increased by €14 and €12 per week, respectively. This brings the maximum rate of payment for the contributory pension to €223.30 per week and the non-contributory maximum rate to €212 per week. These increases ensure progress is being made to achieve the commitment in the programme for Government to bring the basic State pension to €300 per week by 2012. There was an increase of €27 per week for contributory State pension, transition State pension and invalidity pension for qualified adults aged 66 years of age or over. This increase brings the maximum rate payable to €200 per week, thereby making further progress on the commitment in the programme for Government to increase the level of qualified adult payment for pensioner spouses to the level of the State non-contributory pension by 2009. The level of the pensioner qualified adult payment is now equivalent to over 94% of the target rate.
Budget 2008 also provided for an increase of €12 per week in the personal rate payable to recipients of the various social welfare schemes for persons of working age. This brings the level of the lowest rate of social welfare payment to €197.80 per week, thereby ensuring the value of this rate was maintained in line with the commitment in the programme for Government and the national action plan for social inclusion. A number of improvements were introduced in child income supports, including increases in child benefit rates of €6 on the lower rate and €8 on the higher rate. The rates are now €166 and €203 per month, respectively. The qualified child increase, QCI, rose by €2 to €24 per week. These enhancements, together with others, ensure child income supports remain above the level envisaged in the national action plan for social inclusion. Improvements were also made to family income supplement, the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and the widowed parent grant, while additional funding was provided for the school meals programme.
In terms of the 2008 Estimates as a whole, the annual output statement provides a high level view of expenditure from both the Exchequer and the social insurance fund by programme area. Based on the Department's high level strategic goals, expenditure is divided across seven programmes as follows: children and families; people of working age; retired and older people; people with disabilities; poverty and social inclusion; identity management and secure access to services, and operational capabilities and modernisation. I will provide a brief overview of this expenditure.
Children will account for 19% of expenditure or nearly €3.2 billion, of which €2.5 billion will go on child benefit. It is estimated that nearly €373 million will be spent on the qualified child increase, while €188 million will go on family income supplement. The single biggest programme relates to people of working age which accounts for over 32% of overall expenditure or nearly €5.5 billion. Payments for unemployed persons, jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit account for over €1.6 billion, while just over €1.08 billion will be spent on the one parent family payment. Carers will receive €536 million in total.
The retired and older people's programme area accounts for nearly 32% of overall expenditure or very nearly €5.35 billion. Of this, more than half of all expenditure or over €3 billion goes on the contributory State pension, now the single biggest social welfare scheme, while a further €964 million and €890 million, respectively, is expected to be required for the non-contributory State pension and widow's-widower's contributory pension for those aged 66 years and over. One of the key priorities for 2008 will be the completion of the consultation process on the Green Paper on pensions and the development of a long-term framework for pensions.
The main payments for persons with disabilities, including invalidity pension, disability allowance and occupational injuries benefits, account for €1.8 billion. Important outputs in this programme this year include the completion of a value for money review of the disability allowance scheme and the initiation of a European Social Fund supported pilot project on developing activation measures for people with disabilities. Preparations are also under way for the transfer of the domiciliary care allowance and blind welfare allowance schemes from the HSE to the Department next year.
The main areas of expenditure in the poverty and social inclusion programme are the fuel allowance and supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, schemes. A total of €159 million will be spent on the fuel allowance this year, while the SWA will account for almost €773 million. A particular focus of activity under this programme will be implementation of the national action plan for social inclusion 2007-16. This sets out an ambitious agenda of 153 targets and actions, with the overall goal of reducing the rate of consistent poverty by 2012 and eliminating it by 2016. The last two programmes account for a little over 1% of total expenditure, mainly on the administrative budget subheads of Vote 38. Activities under these programmes include the development of the public service card and provision of identity services for other Departments, fees to An Post for payments made at post offices, the maintenance and development of the Department's IT infrastructure and staff costs for the central support sections such as personnel and accounts.
Turning to sources of funding, members of the select committee will be aware that the Exchequer still makes the most significant contribution to social welfare expenditure in terms of resources, as it funds all assistance based schemes and child benefit. However, employees, employers and the self-employed also make a significant and valued contribution to the social welfare system through the operation of the social insurance fund. This year net Exchequer funding under Vote 38 is expected to amount to nearly €9.1 billion, while expenditure from the social insurance fund will be over €7.8 billion.
I hope my opening statement has given the committee a good overview of the Department's planned activities in 2008. The schemes and services operated by the Department benefit everyone in society, either directly or indirectly, and are the key platform for the delivery of social protection. I look forward to discussing the Estimates with the committee, bearing in mind that I may not have all the answers at the tip of my finger.