Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will increase the fuel allowance to help alleviate fuel poverty and to support vulnerable families who will face enormous heating bills in the coming months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2056/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social and Family Affairs assists social welfare recipients with heating costs, through their basic payments, through the fuel allowance scheme and through the household benefits package of electricity and gas allowances.

The household benefits package is payable throughout the year to almost 380,000 pensioners, people with disabilities, and carer households to assist them with their heating, light and cooking costs. This scheme cost approximately €200 million in 2009.

In addition, the national fuel allowance scheme assists householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments with meeting the additional cost of their heating needs during the winter season. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's heating expenses. It is not intended to meet those costs in full and must be seen in the context of the overall level of income available to the family.

In budget 2009, the duration of the payment was increased by an extra two weeks to 32 weeks, while the weekly value of the allowance was increased by €2 to €20 a week, or €23.90 in designated smokeless areas. This compares with just €14 and €17.90 respectively three years ago.

These are in addition to other improvements made in recent years, including a significant increase in the income threshold for the allowance with effect from 2008. A single person aged under 80, with a household income of less than €330.30 a week can now qualify for the fuel allowance. The income limits for couples are €483.80 a week where the qualified adult is aged under 66 and €536.80 a week where both adults are aged over 66. As a result of these improvements, almost 318,000 people benefited from the fuel allowance in 2009 at an estimated cost of €217 million.

In addition to the basic welfare payments, household benefits and fuel allowance payments highlighted above, the Department also provides funding to the community welfare service to assist people with special heating needs. Community welfare officers can pay a heating supplement to people in certain circumstances with specific heating needs due to infirmity or a particular medical condition. They can also make exceptional needs payments to people who do not have enough money to meet their heating costs.

Since the onset of the adverse weather conditions, community welfare officers have provided assistance to people to purchase additional fuel, heaters and clothing. They have also given funding towards the payment of heating bills and for repairs arising from burst pipes. More than €170,000 has been paid out since 1 January 2010 in respect of such claims. Assistance will continue to be provided towards the payment of heating bills for those in need.

Paying a special increase in response to the bad weather would not necessarily represent a good targeting of limited resources. Rather, it is considered desirable to continue to give community welfare officers the discretion and the funding to assist people who need extra financial support.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I find it peculiar that one third of the Minister's answer relates to community welfare officers as a question I tabled for today on the community welfare service was disallowed because it does not come under the Minister's responsibility. To deal with the question in hand, I very much disagree with the Minister. Does she not see and appreciate the difficulty in asking people on low incomes and those in receipt of social welfare to bear the brunt of the type of weather we have had in recent weeks? Certainly, it is unfair to ask them in general - the Minister has not done so - to conserve energy when they do so on such a limited budget.

Was the Minister involved in the emergency committee established to deal with the bad weather? Did the committee consider the difficulties being experienced by people on low incomes and on social welfare as a result of requiring far more fuel than normal? The renewed programme for Government contained a commitment to publish a fuel poverty strategy by the end of last year. This has not been published. When are we likely to see it published? It was decided in the budget to introduce a carbon tax, which will have a significant impact on those in receipt of the fuel allowance. Does the Minister have any plans to alleviate the difficulties that will be experienced by people as a result of this?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I was not involved in the emergency committee and I do not believe it addressed this particular issue, knowing that it was being dealt with by the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the community welfare officers who distribute the money for the Department; that is why I am in a position to answer these questions.

Interestingly, although I know many people had to use fuel almost around the clock during the very cold weather we have not had demand or communication seeking additional help from the major organisations, namely, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Age Action Ireland. However, I expect that when bills for the fuel begin to arrive we will see the real demand. People have not yet received their electricity or fuel bills. Gas and electricity bills will not be received for two months and those who use oil will also see how much has been used. I anticipate greater demand at that stage-----

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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What will the Minister do about it?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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-----through the community welfare officers. The sufficient amount of €92 million has been allocated to them this year for supplementary welfare payments.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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A certain figure has been allocated for supplementary welfare payments. Every time a difficulty arises for one in the social welfare system one is told to go to a community welfare officer to apply for a supplementary welfare payment. People whose houses were flooded were also told to go to a community welfare officer to apply for a supplementary welfare payment. That figure was agreed before the floods and the cold weather conditions. Is the Minister stating that people who cannot meet their fuel bills because of the extreme weather will be looked after when they go to the community welfare service?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In fairness to community welfare officers they dealt extraordinarily well with the flooding issue.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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They do great work but are constrained by their budgets.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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They are the people best placed on the ground and who know. Providing an additional week's benefit has been suggested. However, that would be paid in May which would not be much good to people now. Much of the money invested in fuel expenditure by the Department is done so through household benefits and that is not targeted. Admittedly it goes to everybody over the age of 70 and older people have greater demands, but they all do not have the same financial needs.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Minister could increase the amount community welfare officers have to distribute.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The exceptional needs payment available for this year is approximately €90 million. There is also the installation scheme but that is a separate issue and I want to return to the question asked by the Deputy in the first instance on the carbon tax to be introduced this year and her final question on the fuel strategy for last year. An interdepartmental group on energy affordability has been established and that will address both issues. We are conscious of the fact that a carbon tax on heating products will come into effect from May but it will be September before solid fuels come in. We should have a targeted response but we must find the most efficient way to target and administer it.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will amend the back to education allowance to address a number of inadequacies such as its lack of compatibility with the academic year; the length of time an applicant must be unemployed to qualify for this scheme; the restricted access for persons who already have third level qualifications; and the restricted access to students pursuing other back to education type programs. [2062/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The primary objective of the back to education allowance, BTEA, is to give welfare recipients who left school early and those without third level qualifications a second chance to attain educational qualifications so as to reduce their risk of long-term unemployment.

In order to qualify for participation, an applicant must generally be in receipt of a relevant social welfare payment for three months if pursuing a second level course or 12 months if pursuing a third level course. In May 2009, the qualifying period for access to third level courses was reduced to nine months for people engaging with the Department's facilitator programme, thereby aligning with the existing similar threshold for people within the national employment action plan. People who are awarded statutory redundancy may access the scheme immediately, provided an entitlement to a relevant social welfare payment is established prior to commencing an approved course of study.

Acceptance into the back to education allowance scheme can result in a person receiving income support for three years or more if pursuing a degree course. It is, therefore, considered appropriate, in the context of limited resources, to ensure that such long-term support is only given to those who actually need it. The waiting periods for the scheme act as a disincentive for people to leave education early with a view to getting paid the BTEA to complete it soon after.

It is worth noting that the maximum rate of the back to education allowance is more than double the maximum rate of the maintenance grant available to third level students from the lowest income families. It could, therefore, be considered unfair if a young person could finish school, work for a couple of years and then secure three years worth of BTEA support after being unemployed for only a very short time, while another young person who went straight from school into third level would get far less financial support.

The BTEA is currently limited to full-time courses from second level to higher diploma level in any discipline and to a graduate diploma in education. Qualifications above this level would not generally be considered necessary to secure employment. Payment under the scheme covers the relevant academic year and the scheme caters for approved courses where the starting date is not aligned to the standard academic year. Under separate arrangements, job seekers can participate in a part-time course and maintain their welfare entitlements, provided they obtain approval in advance and continue to satisfy all relevant conditions, such as being available for work.

In 2009, €87.8 million was provided for the BTEA scheme. The number of people on the scheme at the end of November 2009 was 20,418, which is 88% higher than the 10,854 recorded at the end of November 2008. The scheme is being monitored on an ongoing basis in the light of the changed economic circumstances, in order to ensure that it continues to meet its objectives.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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The Minister said at the outset that this scheme was intended for early school leavers. The point I am making is that the qualifying criteria for the scheme are very outdated and do not meet the needs of the newly unemployed. It is fine for the Minister to talk about the minor changes she has made, which are welcome, but the reality is that there has been unprecedented growth in unemployment. One in five unemployed people are under 25. There are many graduates who are drawing the dole. The restricted nature of this scheme means that many people who should be able to avail of it are not entitled to do so.

It would make a lot of sense for the Minister to provide education and training opportunities to those who are on the dole who are precluded from participating in any courses. This problem is relatively new and it needs new solutions. The Minister should consider sitting down with some of the groups who work with unemployed people and try to identify some of those barriers that currently prevent them from participating in training. The current system encourages long-term unemployment. With a little tweaking of the rules, this could be a much more effective intervention for people who find themselves unemployed. Will the Minister apply herself to identifying those blockages?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has acknowledged that we have made necessary changes and I am open to making more. We need to ensure that we keep qualifying criteria for the link with social welfare. We must also ensure that there is a time lag because problems can arise if there is no waiting time.

The Deputy referred to graduates. Traditionally, we have not gone beyond the higher diploma. I accept that there are graduates on the live register, but they can also benefit from the work placement programme and hold on to their social welfare benefits. This may enable them to become more prepared for employment. There are other options available for people. Through FÁS, the Department of Education and Science and the PLC courses, a great number of additional places have also been made available. There are people who may not qualify for the back to the education allowance but who would qualify for the third level grant. That would allow people to continue with their education.

I meet with groups all the time but if there are other practical suggestions that allow more people to participate then I am very open to that. The numbers went up by 88% last year but because more people will be qualifying again this year, more people will be participating as well. We issued a mailshot to 18 to 25 year olds this time last year, and this was quite successful because it forced them to look at it. People who work with the young unemployed said that to me. When they suddenly got a letter about education it set them thinking in that direction. A targeted mailshot might work again.

I come in here every month and tell Deputies that I am more than willing to take on ideas because it is such a difficult area and we all want to do something. However, I do not always get these suggestions. When I do get them, I try to take them on board.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Time does not permit me to go through the various suggestions that I have received from constituents and from groups working in this area. There are six or seven things that could be done and which would not result in a huge cost to the Exchequer, but which would open the scheme up to more people. These people are going to be drawing the dole anyway. People may have received a postgraduate qualification 15 years ago and these qualifications are now fairly irrelevant to the demands of the job market. It makes sense for those people to go back and retrain, but they are precluded from availing of this scheme.

The Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs should take a look at this in the next few weeks and the Department should participate in a round-table discussion on it and take on board some of its suggestions. I would welcome the Minister's support for that idea.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have been looking at a number of issues, such as the problems encountered by people who qualified a long time ago and whose postgraduate qualifications are no longer relevant to the current market. We need to have a focus on any solutions to these problems, and we could do that in the context of the smart economy. We should be targeting support for people who are doing courses that might ultimately lead to employment, rather than some of the other courses. At the same time, we also have to ensure that we continue to support other people on social welfare payments, such as lone parents and people on disability benefit, to ensure that the back to education allowance facilitates them as well.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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What about the round-table discussion?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I will participate in any discussion on back to education programmes.