Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 April 2004
87 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of community welfare officers that are situated around the country; the plans in place to increase the numbers of community welfare officers; and her intentions in dealing with this matter in view of the fact that due to the shift in population in parts of the country there is a shortage of such officers. [12168/04]
View answer91 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the plans her Department has to reform the community welfare officers’ situation in view of the fact that their workload has increased. [12160/04]
View answer124 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there is a shortage of community welfare officers in parts of the country; the plans she has to increase the number of community welfare officers. [12173/04]
View answerI proposed to take Questions Nos. 87, 91 and 124 together.
The supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, scheme is the "safety net" within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants. The scheme, which is subject to my general direction and control, is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards. The scheme operates under the community care programme and is delivered by community welfare officers, CWOs, and superintendent community welfare officers, S/CWOs. My Department has no function in determining entitlement in individual cases.
I am satisfied that there are sufficient numbers of community welfare officers and superintendents in the overall system to ensure that the public receives an efficient and professional service. At present, there are 53 superintendent community welfare officers and 700 community welfare officers operating from approximately 1,050 locations throughout the country. Apart from administering the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, some of these officers also perform other duties on behalf of the Department of Health and Children and the relevant local authority. In such cases the Department of Social and Family Affairs is responsible for the payment of that proportion of administrative costs which corresponds to the amount of time spent on SWA related work.
Between 2000 and 2003 I have increased funding to health boards in respect of their administration expenditure by 44% — from €29.77 million in 2000 to over €43 million last year. I have also allocated an additional €4 million in respect of 2004.
Given that the responsibility for administering the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, including the assignment of staff, rests with the health boards, it is a matter for each board to respond to variations in workloads arising from population movement and changes in workloads in its functional area. Employing increased numbers of staff is not necessarily the only appropriate response when faced with workload pressures. The health boards are, of course, subject to the same restrictions on employee numbers as apply elsewhere in the public service, including my Department, and must also achieve efficiencies where possible in response to greater demands for their services.
