Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2017
1904. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the report that was to be prepared by her Department within three months of the passing of the Social Welfare Act 2016 on the financial and social effects of amendments to the one-parent family payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38570/17]
View answerOn foot of the legislative commitment contained in the Social Welfare Act 2016 to carry out an independent report on the amendments to the one parent family payment, and following a tendering process, Indecon Economic Consultants were selected and commenced work on the report in April of this year.
I would like to clarify for the Deputy that this report was not due to be completed within 3 months of the enactment of the Social Welfare Bill as he has indicated in the question. The legislation states that the Minister shall cause to have the report prepared within 3 months and completed within 9 months of the enactment of the Bill. My Department issued a Request for Tenders within the initial 3 month timeframe.
The contract requires Indecon to examine the financial, social, poverty and welfare dependency impacts of the changes to the OFP scheme that were introduced since January 2012. To achieve this Indecon must carry out a detailed quantitative and econometric analysis of the Department’s data on affected lone parents, and carry out a qualitative analysis that includes issuing a survey to 34,000 lone parents and collating those results.
The timeframe for the review was always very ambitious given the scale and complexity of the issues to be covered in the review. However, it is expected that the report will be available within the coming weeks.
