Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the estimated cost to the Exchequer of increasing the threshold for family income supplement by €20, €30 and €40. [31233/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Weekly payments of FIS are made to families with children under 18 or between 18 and 22 if in full-time education, where at least one parent is in full-time remunerative employment of not less than 19 hours per week or 38 hours per fortnight, where the employment is likely to last at least three months and where the income of the family is less than a prescribed weekly amount. The number of FIS claims in payment at the end of September 2005 was 15,784. This represents an increase of 31% since December 2002, when 12,043 claims were in payment.

FIS income limits were increased by €39 per week in budget 2005. This represents a net increase of €23.40 per week for most recipients. Weekly FIS income limits have risen by €84 since 2002, a net increase of €50.40. The guaranteed minimum weekly rate of payment for anyone who qualifies for FIS increased to €20 from January 2004. The estimated cost of increasing FIS thresholds are contained in the following table. It should be noted that these estimates reflect the cost of these increases to current recipients only.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of one-parent family payments currently being paid out by his Department; the number of these for which maintenance is being paid by a liable relative directly to the claimant; the further number for which maintenance is being paid by the liable relative directly to his Department; in the cases where maintenance is being paid directly to his Department, the resulting loss of income incurred by the one-parent family payments claimant; his plans to rectify this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31232/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The one-parent family payment acts as a safety net for people caring for children on their own, who receive inadequate maintenance, where maintenance payments are irregular or where efforts to secure maintenance in the first place fail. Applicants for one-parent family payments must satisfy the Department that they have made reasonable attempts to obtain such maintenance. They are also required to make ongoing efforts to seek adequate maintenance from their former spouses or, in the case of unmarried applicants, the parent of the child.

Since the introduction of the one-parent family payment in 1997, there have been substantial improvements in the rates of payment and in the assessment of means for the payment. One-parent family payment claimants are allowed to retain 50% of any maintenance received without reduction in their social welfare payment. They also have a disregard in respect of rent or mortgage payments up to a maximum of €95.23 per week. The number of one-parent family payment recipients being paid by my Department at the end of September 2005 is 79,937. Included in this figure are 906 payments to widowed persons.

My Department's records indicate that approximately 9,600 one-parent family payment recipients are in receipt of maintenance from a spouse or other parent, resulting in a payment at a reduced rate to the lone parent. However, many other recipients may be in receipt of maintenance while still qualifying for the maximum rate of one-parent family payment as a result of the provision allowing one-parent family claimants to retain 50% of any maintenance received. There were 2,019 liable relatives contributing directly to my Department at the end of September 2005, the latest date for which figures are available.

There is no loss of income incurred by one-parent family payment recipients where the Department has to pursue the issue of maintenance with the non-resident parent. Rather, the provision allowing one-parent family claimants to retain 50% of any direct maintenance received was established as an incentive for lone parents to seek agreement with the other parent on the level of maintenance to be paid. Any change to this approach will be considered in the context of the significant social reforms in the area of lone parents which are currently under consideration.