Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 9 May 1995

Vol. 452 No. 5

Written Answers. - Allowance Guidelines.

Desmond J. O'Malley

Ceist:

15 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of occasions the Special Advisory Committee met to review the supplementary welfare allowance guidelines since October 1994; and the present position of the new guidelines. [8257/95]

Helen Keogh

Ceist:

31 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to a new booklet published by the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed entitled, Everything You Need to Know to get a Supplementary Welfare Allowance; and his views on whether this type of booklet should be produced and on whether this type of work should be done by his Department. [8238/95]

Minister for Social Welfare (Proinsias De Rossa)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 31 together.

I welcome the publication of the information booklet on supplementary welfare allowance and would like to complement the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU) on its initiative. The proposal for this publication arose in the context of the International Year of the Family in 1994. The national steering committee for the year received £400,000 from my Department and provided £20,000 from these funds to the INOU to undertake this project.

Officials from the health boards responsible for the administration of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme participated on a committee chaired by the INOU to assist with the preparation of the booklet. This committee also included officials from the supplementary welfare allowance section of my Department.

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is covered in my Department's information booklet entitled Guide to Social Welfare Services SW4 and other guides recently produced including Guide for the Unemployed SW64 and Families First SW68. A number of information leaflets has been produced by my Department on various aspects of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme such as Code of Practice on Fuel Debts SW94 and Rent and Mortgage Supplements SW28. Information leaflets and booklets on the various social welfare services are available from any of the 58 social welfare local offices throughout the country.

While my Department will continue to strengthen and develop its information services, I recognise the valuable part that the independent voluntary sector can play in providing information and advice on social welfare services. The publication of this booklet is a good example of that contribution.

An advisory group chaired by my Department was set-up in September 1992, with representatives at superintendent community welfare officer (SCWOs) level from the eight regional health boards.

The main purpose of the group is to review supplementary welfare practices in health boards and make recommendations to achieve uniformity, consistency and equity of application of guidelines and legislation. The advisory group has met on eight occasions since its establishment.

The last meeting of the advisory group was in October 1994 following which two sub-committees were formed to review particular aspects of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which included exceptional needs payments and diet supplements. At subsequent meetings of the sub-committee a draft of the revised guidelines on exceptional needs payments was brought to an advanced stage. These guidelines are near completion and it is intended that a plenary session of the advisory committee will be held in the coming weeks to finalise the text. The advisory committee has already completed its work on rent and mortgage guidelines which will be published at the earliest possible date.