John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to change the way in which the supplementary welfare allowance is to be administered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10952/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare scheme is administered by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive on my behalf. The establishment of the Health Service Executive prompted a fresh consideration of the role and structure of the community welfare service and of the most appropriate location for that service in the future.

The Commission on Financial Management and Control Systems in the Health Service noted that over the years the health system had been assigned responsibility for a number of services which might be regarded as non-core health activities. It recommended that the Government consider assigning non-core activities currently undertaken by agencies within the health service to other bodies. The Government subsequently decided to ask an interdepartmental group to examine this issue. The report of the interdepartmental group was submitted to, and accepted by, the Government recently. The report recommends, among other things, that income support and maintenance schemes, together with associated resources, should be transferred to my Department.

I welcome this decision as it provides an opportunity to bring about positive change for customers and staff. This particular initiative has been mooted several times in the past — by the report of the Commission on Social Welfare in 1986 and by the review of supplementary welfare allowances by the Combat Poverty Agency in 1991 — and is I believe, a logical approach to provision of these services. This initiative will have major implications for my Department's existing services and for the future delivery of supplementary welfare allowance. It is proposed that a working group consisting of my Department and the Department of Health and Children will be established to assess the implications and progress implementation of the transfer.

Given the organisational, human resource and industrial relations implications of the transfer proposal, consultations with all stakeholders will be part of the process to implement the decision. This is a major change for my Department which I am confident can be embraced successfully by all and which will, ultimately, further enhance the delivery of services to customers. I am also confident that this transfer process can be carried out without any negative effect on the standard of service currently provided by community welfare officers.

The scheme itself is being reviewed as part of my Department's ongoing programme of expenditure reviews. The review is being carried out by a working group chaired by my Department and including representatives of the Department of Finance and of the Health Service Executive. The review involves a fundamental appraisal of the scheme. All aspects are being examined with a primary focus on considering ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness. The work of the group is almost complete and its recommendations will be taken into account in the context of the future development of the scheme.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the efforts which are being made to trace the ex-partners of people in receipt of a one-parent family allowance; if so, the number of staff involved in such tracing; the success of such tracing over the past two years; the number of payments which have been cancelled or reduced as a result of such investigations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10937/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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All one-parent family payment, OPFP, applicants are requested to provide details of the other parent of their child/ren. This information includes the name, address and whether he/she is in employment or receiving payments from my Department or the Health Service Executive, HSE. The applicant is also requested to submit long version birth certificates for each child. In a significant number of cases the other parent of the child will be named on the child's birth certificate.

Applicants for one-parent family payment are required to make ongoing efforts to look for adequate maintenance from their former spouses or, in the case of unmarried applicants, the other parent of their child. They must satisfy my Department that they have made reasonable attempts to obtain such maintenance. Separated one-parent family payment claimants must demonstrate that they have made reasonable efforts to obtain support before their lone parent payment is awarded. Unmarried claimants must demonstrate similar efforts after their claim is awarded. Guidelines as to the steps to be taken in making reasonable efforts to obtain maintenance are published on my Department's website.

The issue of maintenance payments is first and foremost a private matter for the persons concerned and, if they cannot resolve the problem, for the courts through family law provisions. The purpose of the Department of Social and Family Affairs' maintenance recovery operation is to recover some or all of the moneys being expended on social welfare payments for lone parents. In every case where a one-parent family payment is awarded, the maintenance recovery unit of my Department seeks to trace the other parent, referred to as the liable relative, to ascertain whether he or she is in a financial position to contribute towards the cost of one-parent family payment. The follow-up activity takes place within two to three weeks of the award of payment.

All liable relatives assessed with maintenance liability are notified by my Department and they are issued with a determination order setting out the amount of contribution assessed. The amount assessed can be reviewed where new information comes to light about the financial or household circumstances of the liable relative. Decisions on the amounts assessed can be appealed to the social welfare appeals office.

The number of one-parent family payment recipients being paid by my Department at the end of December 2005 was 80,366. Included in this figure are 906 payments to widowed persons where maintenance is not an issue. In the period January 2004 to December 2005, the maintenance recovery unit has examined 36,034 cases and issued determination orders to 5,268 liable relatives. Savings arising from the work of the maintenance recovery unit in this period amounted to €34.45 million. A total of 1,452 lone parent payments were terminated, resulting in savings of €29.55 million and 905 lone parent payments were reduced, resulting in savings of €1.16 million. Direct contributions from liable relatives amounted to €3.74 million.

As at the end of February 2006, the latest date for which figures are available, 2,230 liable relatives are contributing directly to my Department. My Department's records indicate that approximately 9,600 one-parent family payment recipients are in receipt of maintenance from their spouse or other parent of their child/ren and as a result receive a reduced rate OPFP. Figures are not available for one-parent family payment recipients who receive maintenance payments and still qualify for the maximum rate of payment.

There are currently 12 staff working in the maintenance recovery unit. A further four staff are working directly on maintenance related work — reducing or terminating one-parent family payment claims when the liable relative begins paying maintenance.