Vol. 453 No. 6
110 Mr. E. Walsh asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will ensure that health boards keep specific social welfare allowance records to allow the identification of the costs of maintaining asylum seekers; his views on whether the present absence of financial and other records creates a huge anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9708/95]
A statistical system has been in use for some years in the health boards which enables financial records to be maintained. There is, however, no separate code for asylum seekers in that system. It is understood that the Department of Justice received a total of 355 applications for asylum in 1994. Approximately half of these reside in the Mid-Western Health Board area. The board estimates that approximately £½ million was paid out in supplementary welfare allowances to asylum seekers during 1994.
At present, my Department is developing a new computerised system, integrated short term schemes system, ISTS, which will integrate all short term social welfare payments such as disability benefit, unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance and supplementary welfare allowance. It will be implemented on a phased basis for SWA payments from March 1996 and it is anticipated that it will be fully operational in all health board areas by the end of 1996. This new computerised system will give better quality statistical and expenditure analysis in respect of the various elements of the SWA scheme. I have asked the computer staff who are developing the ISTS system to ensure that a specific code is incorporated into the system to identify the number of asylum seekers in receipt of SWA payments and the cost of this provision.
