Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 784: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if legislation will be amended to allow entitlement to the household benefits package in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11; if he will review this provision and amend same to reflect the not untypical participation of dependent children in full-time education beyond their 22nd birthday due to either the length of the course or the fact they take a year out of the course; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40263/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The household benefits package, which comprises the electricity or gas allowance, telephone allowance and television licence schemes, is generally available to people living permanently in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. The package is also available to carers in receipt of a carer's allowance and to people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. People aged over 70 years can qualify regardless of their income or household composition. Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the household benefits package retain that entitlement to ensure households do not suffer a loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse.

In order to qualify for the household benefits package, the applicant must live alone or only with certain excepted people. A dependent child aged under 18, or under age 22 and in full-time education, is considered an excepted person. The person concerned applied for the household benefits package on 28 November 2005. The application was refused because his son, aged over 22, in full-time education, resides with the applicant. The person concerned was in receipt of an increase in respect of a child dependant on his invalidity pension up to June 2003. This increase was stopped when his son ceased full-time education. If he returned to full-time education before his 22nd birthday, the person concerned may have an entitlement to an increase in respect of a child dependant until his son's 22nd birthday. My officials will be in touch with the person concerned shortly to establish his entitlement in this regard.

Further extensions to the household benefits package could only be considered in a budgetary context and taking account of the financial and other needs of those not covered by the existing arrangements.

Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 786: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the living alone allowance has not been increased for nine years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40314/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The living alone allowance is an additional payment of €7.70 per week made to people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone. It is also available to people under 66 years of age who are living alone and who receive payments under one of a number of invalidity type schemes. It was last increased in 1996.

The policy in relation to support for pensioners has been, for many years, to give priority to increasing the personal rates of pension rather than focusing on payments such as the living alone allowance. This approach ensures that the position of all pensioners is improved.

The Government is committed to increasing the level of the basic State pension to €200 per week by 2007. Further significant progress towards achieving this target was made in budget 2006, which provided for increases in pensions of between €14 and €16 per week. The maximum rate of the old age contributory pension is now €193.30 per week with the non-contributory pension paid at €182 per week.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 787: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that bereavement grant is payable on the death of a child under 18, but over 18, it will not be paid unless the person has 156 paid stamps; his views on extending same to cover a child of an insured person who lives with them. [40367/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The bereavement grant, which is a payment based on PRSI contributions, is designed to assist families in dealing with death and funeral expenses. The grant is payable on the death of an insured person or a family member, including a child under age 18, or under age 22 if in full-time education. In the case of persons over these ages, the grant is paid on the basis of their own PRSI contributions. Where there are insufficient PRSI contributions a person may receive assistance under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. Under this arrangement, the HSE may make a single payment to help meet exceptional expenditure, for example, for funeral expenses, which a family could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their income.

I appreciate that this is an issue that must be dealt with sensitively and I will keep the possible need to extend the grant under review.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 788: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his proposals to extend the period whereby persons in receipt of the disability benefit can engage in work of a rehabilitative nature; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40410/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department operates a number of schemes which provide income support to those persons who are unfit to work due to illness or disability. These payments include disability benefit which is a social insurance based scheme.

Facilitating return to work or participation in the active labour force is one of the main objectives of the social welfare system. There are a number of specific employment and training incentives available within the system to encourage and facilitate people with illness or disability to take up available work or training options. These include exemptions from the general "no work" conditions of the disability benefit and invalidity pension schemes to facilitate a person to undertake employment of a rehabilitative nature. These exemptions are granted, on the advice of the Department's medical assessors, usually for a period of 12 months, but may be renewed for a further period, subject to review, if a person seeks an extension. There are no immediate plans to extend the period of exemption but my Department is considering issues in relation to the type of employment allowed and also in relation to the income support arrangements for persons in these circumstances in light of a review of the illness and disability schemes which was under the expenditure review programme.