Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when he will complete his consideration of the proposed new package of reforms of State aid for lone parents; when he will bring forward specific proposals; if such proposals will be included in his budget package; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15200/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the national employment action plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of child care; improved information services for lone parents; and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low income families with young children. The paper also proposed the abolition of the cohabitation rule as a condition for receipt of the proposed social assistance payment.

One of the proposals in the report was that the upper income limit for the new social assistance payment should be set at €400 per week. In budget 2006, I increased the upper income limits on the one parent family payment from €293 to €375 per week. In budget 2007, I completed this element of the proposal by increasing the upper income limit for the one parent family payment to €400 per week thus meeting the proposals in the Green Paper.

In addition, the report recommended increasing the qualified child increase for recipients of the one parent family payment. In budget 2007, the three rates of qualified child increase, which had been maintained at the same levels for a number of years, were combined into a single rate of €22 per week in respect of over 340,000 children of welfare families.

The new social assistance payment, under development in my Department, will have the long-term aim of assisting people to achieve financial independence through supporting them to enter employment — the avenue that is widely agreed to offer the best route out of poverty.

Any proposed new payment can only be introduced when the necessary co-ordinated supports and services are put in place by other Departments and agencies. That is why the Government has instructed the senior officials group on social inclusion to draw up an implementation plan to progress the non-income recommendations in tandem with the development of the legislation required in my Department to introduce a new payment scheme. Work on the development of this implementation plan is continuing. Issues, including access to child care support, education, training and activation measures continue to be discussed with the relevant Departments and agencies.

To further develop the process, my Department, with the co-operation of FÁS, the office of the Minister of State with responsibility for children and the Department of Education and Science, are to test the proposals in both an urban and rural setting. These tests will focus on identifying and resolving the practical and administrative issues that may arise in advance of the scheme being introduced. This will allow for operational and logistical co-ordination between the relevant Departments and agencies to be considered and will facilitate the development of the new scheme as soon as possible.

Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. He used to issue a statement on lone parents every month but, in fairness to him, he has followed through on it and we had the Government's discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, and the Farmleigh discussions. It is still of concern to many people and to lone parents in particular. The Minister's inspectors are still very vigilant in checking to see who is cohabiting and there seems to be a focus on this issue. The quicker the cohabitation rule is established, the better, so that the neutral family situation as advocated by the Minister can be adopted. The success of this scheme depends on a number of factors, one of which is that there should be a proper forum in which lone parents can meet all the NGOs and groups so that the various issues can be dealt with. Many poverty traps have been created and the advent of a particular policy initiative in one area may well lead to another unanticipated poverty trap being set up in another area. It is time to set up a consultative forum for all the relevant interests. The Farmleigh meeting was a response to the discussion document but interest groups will wish to make submissions.

It is important the integration process is firmly embedded otherwise it will fall flat on its face. It will be necessary for FÁS, the Office of the Minister for Children, the Department of Education and Science and the Minister's Department to work in a properly joined-up way and not just in a haphazard, ad hoc manner, using fire brigade-type action. These bodies must work in a unified and integrated way to ensure that all the steps are taken for child care. We all accept that the route out of poverty is by means of work but it must be quality work. Training and upskilling must be made available by FÁS within family-friendly hours, particularly for lone parents who might be under stress and worried about how to avail of the scheme. There is a significant amount of work to be done in this area. When will the programme be introduced on a pilot basis in urban and rural areas? How will the participants be selected? The quicker this problem is dealt with, the better. The Minister deserves some credit for progressing the discussion to date.

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Some good progress was made when the limit was raised to €400 in the budget and this is in line with the document. The tests will be carried out in both an urban and a rural setting and they will be conducted by the Department of Social and Family Affairs with the co-operation of FÁS, the Office of the Minister for Children and the Department of Education and Science. The test will aim to target on a voluntary basis all new recipients of the one-parent family payment and qualified adult in the test area. The test is to focus on identifying and resolving the practical and administrative issues that may arise in advance of the new scheme being introduced. These include customer profiling, case management, IT development, data storage, interdepartmental agency linkages and outcome monitoring. Child care and other similar policy issues must also be taken into account by the group. Although take-up is likely to be low due to the necessary voluntary nature of the test, it will allow for operational and logistical co-ordination to be considered and developed.

The Deputy has expressed to me many times his concern that in any reforms, new poverty traps are not created and the implementation group will consider that carefully. Lone parents are not a homogeneous group; it includes widows and other people. Care must be taken not to create another problem when tackling this problem. The paper has been published and the Government has made it available for discussion. Some of its issues are controversial such as the activation issues which have yet to be decided. A five-year transition period is proposed. We can now move away from the lone parent's allowance to a fairer family-friendly allowance based on children who live in low income families as opposed to the marital or other status of the family.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Are the pilot tests scheduled to take place in the autumn? Will these trials in urban and rural settings take months or weeks? Is it the intention of the Department to withhold publication of the legislation in this area until those tests have been completed? What is the current state of the legislation? We were informed a month ago that it was at an advanced stage, which is some kind of code.

When is it expected the new payments scheme will be operational? Has the working group with representatives from the main agencies been established yet? Which groups will be involved in the working group? Will extra facilitators be employed to deal with demands from lone parents? Does the Minister envisage the legislation will cover all aspects of the proposals, including the removal of the cohabitation rule? Will lone parents be included in the NEAP?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has instructed a senior officials group on social inclusion, which has been established, to draw up an implementation plan. It will consider issues such as child care, education, training and activation measures and will discuss co-operation with various agencies. One of the key points made by the lone parents' groups was that while they were broadly supportive of these changes they wanted the other parallel issues such as child care and education and training to be brought along in tandem. I took their point and that is the reason the senior officials group is beginning this work immediately.

The tests will commence later in the year and I imagine a couple of months should be sufficient time to run those tests. I envisage legislation on this matter will come before the House next year. This will depend on the will of the holder of this office and the Government of the day. I believe these proposals are sufficiently well founded and have a wide degree of public support so that whoever has the honour to hold this post will drive forward with these proposals. Additional facilitators will be provided if they are required and they can be redeployed from other parts of the system rather than recruited directly. We will ensure that the facilitation process is fully supported. The ending of the cohabitation rule is at the heart of the proposals. The legislation is in draft form and all the major proposals in the discussion document have been translated into draft sections of a Bill that is awaiting the Government's decision to introduce it and that will only happen following these tests and following the completion of the work of the senior officials.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Deputy Gormley's Question No. 73 is similar. The Minister proposes to establish pilot projects. Will he acknowledge the lack of ongoing social policy-making within his Department? We are asking him to describe the problems and we are making suggestions as to the solutions and tentatively putting toes in the water as to whether those solutions would work. There should be a better system in place which includes ongoing research because agencies exist that are supposed to engage in such research. Is there information in the system on lone parent families?

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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One thing I have learned in this Department is that it must have a strong policy content at its core.

One of my first statements to the House was to the effect that I did not want the Department of Social and Family Affairs to merely be an administrative Department responsible for paying out funds and acting as a form of social ATM. I am trying to move it on a daily basis towards a point where policy considerations relating to carers, lone parents, travel, etc., will be at the centre of the decisions we take. We try to pursue a social agenda which helps people build better lives for themselves.

I am of the opinion that the Department must continue to have a strong social policy philosophy and objective at its core. It must not increase allowances willy-nilly simply because that is the way it has always been done. The Department must consider the reasoning behind allowances and how they assist people to move to better places. That is what I have tried to do in respect of pensions, lone parent's allowance, carer's allowance etc. It is important that we continue to operate in this manner.

The Deputy is correct that there are many research facilities available to the Department. Many very fine Government and voluntary organisations provide research on a timely basis. Research-based decisions are critically and continually important for a Department which is as vital to the lives of so many people as is the Department of Social and Family Affairs.