I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,107,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1967, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Social Welfare, for certain Services administered by that Office, for payments to the Social Insurance Fund, and for Sundry Grants.
This Supplementary Estimate provides for increased expenditure in all three Sections of the Social Welfare Vote for the current year. Under the head of Administration — Subheads A and C — £203,000 extra is required. Under Social Insurance—Subheads E and F — the additional sum sought is £1,068,000. For Social Assistance— Subhead I—the supplementary provision is £166,000. The gross total comes to £1,437,000, but as there are estimated savings on other Subheads amounting to £217,000 and surplus Appropriations in Aid, estimated at £113,000, the net additional requirement from the Exchequer is £1,107,000.
Of the £203,000 extra now sought for administration expenses, £194,000 arises on the salaries subhead. This is required to meet the cost of pay revisions, including the tenth round wage increase, for certain grades, which was not included in the original Estimate. The gross additional amount required is £234,000 but this is partially offset by expected savings of £40,000 on the original provision of £1,726,000. An adjustment of an underclaim by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in the previous year is mainly responsible for the increase of £9,000 under Subhead C—Post Office Services.
As regards social insurance, provision is made for increasing the Exchequer contribution to the Social Insurance Fund under Subhead E by £1,063,000 bringing the estimated total for the year to £13,513,000. As Deputies are aware, provision is made under this subhead for payment into the Social Insurance Fund of the amount by which the expenditure of the Fund exceeds its income in any year.
The revised expenditure of the Fund in the current year is now estimated at £33,810,000, an increase of £1,106,000 on the original provision. Revised income is now estimated at £20,159,000, a decrease of £95,000 on the sum originally estimated.
The main increases in Fund expenditure are in respect of unemployment benefit £643,000, disability benefit £406,000 and administration costs £129,000. As an offset against these increases, there is an estimated saving on old age (contributory) pensions of £130,000. On the income side, the decrease is entirely attributable to an expected shortfall of £100,000 in the yield from employment contributions.
Apart from the variations, as now estimated, in the expenditure and income of the Fund—and I have just mentioned the main ones — there is a further factor which must be taken into account in arriving at the revised Exchequer contribution for the current year. This is the overdraw by the Fund from the Vote in respect of the year ended 31st March, 1966. As Deputies will readily appreciate, final draws must be made each year on an estimated basis because actual figures for expenditure and income are not available until after the close of the year. The actual outturn on the Fund for 1965-66 indicated that a sum of approximately £138,000 had been overdrawn from the Exchequer as at 31st March, 1966; accordingly, the revised Exchequer contribution for the current year, as now estimated under Subhead E, is being reduced by that amount.
As regards social assistance, an increased provision of £166,000 for unemployment assistance is included under Subhead I. This is almost entirely due to the additional cost of the increase varying from 3/- to 10/- a week, which were granted from 1st November, 1966, to recipients of unemployment assistance under the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1966.
In the case of the final Subhead— L. Appropriations in Aid—the estimated increase of £113,000 in the current year falls under Subdivision I— Receipt from the Social Insurance Fund under section 40 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952. This relates to administration costs incurred by my Department in the operation of the social insurance scheme. The increase of £113,000 in estimated receipts from the Fund arises out of the recovery of the insurance portion of the additional net expenditure of £196,000 required for the administration subheads A and C.
I have now covered the principal matters affecting this Supplementary Estimate. I shall be glad, however, to furnish any further information which Deputies may require.