Vol. 573 No. 3
736 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason the agreement with the Irish Dental Association provides no cap on prices for fillings, particularly in view of the fact that dental charges here are far higher than those in Northern Ireland; if she will be monitoring prices; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25216/03]
Under the dental benefit scheme administered by my Department treatment is provided to insured workers and their dependent spouses by general practitioners who enter into contracts with me for this purpose. This contract is negotiated, on dentists' behalf, by the Irish Dental Association. Under the existing contract, certain items of treatment are at fixed cost with the Department being responsible for meeting all or some of that cost while in other cases treatment costs are fixed by dentists themselves and the Department makes a contribution towards the cost.
The fixed fee approach applies in relation to routine treatments involving examination, cleaning and extractions. In the case of fillings, patients receiving fillings under the scheme receive a 15% discount on the normal private fee. The charge to them for fillings under the scheme is the discounted fee less the contribution my Department pays directly to the dentist, namely €29.20.
I might add that the agreement with dentists requires them to display their normal fee for fillings and also the discounted fee applicable to patients under this scheme. This was designed to ensure that beneficiaries under the scheme were aware of the charges being applied by individual practitioners and to enable them to make informed decisions on where to secure the most advantageous service.
I am satisfied that the current arrangements strike a reasonable balance between the needs of insured persons and the demands of dentists who operate the scheme.
737 Mr. Cregan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will review an application for back to education allowance by a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [25219/03]
The back to education allowance is a second chance educational opportunities programme designed to encourage and facilitate unemployed people and others to improve their skills and qualifications and, therefore, their prospects of returning to the active work force.
The programme is intended to assist social welfare recipients who may be at risk of becoming dependent on social welfare on a long-term basis because they lack educational qualifications.
To qualify for participation in the scheme an applicant must, inter alia, be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for at least six months or 156 days immediately prior to commencing an approved course of study. Periods of unemployment or illness in respect of which social security payments were claimed in other countries do not qualify towards meeting this condition.
The person concerned, had been in receipt of unemployment assistance for only 144 days and did not, therefore, satisfy the eligibility criteria for participation in the scheme.
The existing eligibility criteria of the scheme are designed to ensure that access is afforded to people with at least a minimum six months of unemployment and there are no grounds for changing the criteria in the circumstances of this case.
738 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who are claiming rent supplement nation-wide; the number of these who have one or two children; and the number who have between two and five children. [25290/03]
The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards, provides for the payment of a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of rent to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation needs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.
There are currently 59,158 rent supplements in payment. Some 12,138 of these are paid to couples, 13,410 are paid to single parents and the remaining 33,611 are to single people. Details of the number of children in households where a rent supplement is in payment are not available as they are not recorded on my Department's computer system.
739 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo is only receiving ?120 per week; and if this person should be receiving more. [25291/03]
The person concerned applied to her local community welfare officer for and has been paid, supplementary welfare allowance at the weekly rate of €116.00. She is entitled to payment from my Department at the rate applicable to her late husband for the six weeks after his death. A payment of €1,564.80 was, accordingly, made to her recently. This covers her entitlements to 26 November next. Her application for widow's non-contributory pension is under examination at present and she will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible. Her entitlement will apply from 27 November 2003.
Under social welfare legislation, decisions in relation to claims are made by deciding officers and appeals officers. These officers are statutorily appointed and I have no role in regard to making such decisions.
