Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 408: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved for the free schemes. [35364/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned has not been awarded the household benefits package because a member of the household is receiving unemployment assistance and is therefore not considered an excepted person for the purpose of the scheme. One of the conditions of the household benefits package for people under 70 years is that the applicant must be residing alone or with excepted people. Excepted people include a qualified adult, dependent child(ren) under age 18 or up to age 22 if in full-time education, a person so incapacitated as to require constant care and attention for at least 12 months, a person who would qualify for the allowance in his/her own right and a person providing full-time care and attention to somebody in the household.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when he intends to publish the most recent review of the one-parent family payment which was completed in September 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35428/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The one-parent family payment was introduced in 1997 to provide income support to those parents with insufficient means who are parenting alone as a result of being widowed, or following separation or divorce, or being unmarried.

Poverty rates tend to be higher among larger families and one-parent families, due mainly to the direct costs of rearing children, including child care costs, and the opportunity costs related to the reduced earning capacity of parents, arising from their care responsibilities. This applies particularly to lone parent families as the lone parent has to be the main breadwinner and carer at the same time.

It is generally accepted that for people in working age households, the main route out of poverty is employment. However, employment participation among lone parents in this country is among the lowest in the OECD. This is despite the huge employment growth in recent years, increased female participation in the workforce and the income disregards afforded to lone parents under the one-parent family payment who take up employment.

Entitlement to payments under the current scheme is also contingent on not co-habiting with another adult either in marriage or outside marriage. However, I am aware that reluctance on the part of some parents to forego the income security provided by the one-parent family payment may act as a disincentive to the formation of partnerships and ultimately marriage for recipients.

In addition, recognition of the mother as primary caregiver has meant that where the parents are separated, the mother usually retains custody of the children and, if there is eligibility, full entitlement to the one-parent family payment. The scheme as it currently operates, therefore, may not sufficiently facilitate or promote joint parenting, and to that extent may not be sufficiently father friendly.

One of the key tasks in the ending child poverty initiative under Sustaining Progress is to address obstacles to employment for lone parents. The senior officials group on social inclusion was mandated late last year to examine this issue and report back to the Cabinet committee on social inclusion with specific proposals. A sub-group of the senior officials group has been examining obstacles to employment for lone parent families, with particular emphasis on income supports, employment, education, child care and support programmes and information.

We must also look closely at income supports and at how we can adjust those supports to better address the social problems that can arise for those who receive these payments. In this regard, a working group established in my Department to review the income support arrangements for lone parents, has looked at issues including the contingency basis of the one parent family payment, co-habitation, maintenance and secondary benefits. A consultation process with social partners and other interested parties was also undertaken to inform the work of the group.

The Cabinet committee on social inclusion has been updated on the progress of both working groups and I will be bringing the final reports to Cabinet early in the new year with a view to publication shortly thereafter. It is my intention that the outcome of these reviews will contribute to the development of proposals designed to better support and encourage lone parents in achieving a better standard of living, employment and education opportunities, a better future for themselves and their children, and a more appropriate social policy in the future.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 410: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if back to school clothing allowance will be awarded in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35517/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Service Executive, which administers the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme on my behalf, has advised that it has no record of an application from the family concerned.