Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 334: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rationale behind counting as means the first €95 maintenance payment for the purposes of providing rent support and disregarding the following €75; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24528/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The means test for the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, through which rent supplement is provided, requires that all types of household income, including maintenance payments for a lone parent and his or her children, must be taken into account in determining a person's entitlement under the scheme.

A person who claims a One-Parent Family Payment is required to seek maintenance from her/his spouse or the other parent of the child. These maintenance payments are assessed as means for the purpose of determining entitlement to a one-parent family payment. However, vouched housing costs of up to €95.23 per week (rent or mortgage) are disregarded in establishing the rate of one-parent family payment due.

Given that up to €95.23 per week of maintenance payments are disregarded in the means test for the one-parent family payment to allow for housing costs, the first €95.23 in maintenance is regarded as being towards rent supplement and consequently, the amount of rent supplement payable is based on the net amount that the claimant has to meet from their own resources. For that reason maintenance income up to €95.23 per week is assessable in determining the appropriate level of rent supplement payable.

In cases where maintenance of more than €95.23 per week is paid, up to €75 (€60 per week with half of any additional income between €60 and €90) per week of maintenance in excess of this €95.23 amount can be disregarded for rent supplement means assessment purposes. This is to ensure that the family benefits from the extra maintenance income up to that level before it affects their rent supplement entitlements.

Overall, the means test rules and disregards are designed to give an incentive to lone parents to obtain maintenance to improve their household income position, while ensuring that families in that situation have access to appropriate levels of rent or mortgage interest supplement to be able to continue to meet their accommodation needs.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 335: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason the back to school clothing and footwear allowance has not been awarded to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will re-examine the matter. [24671/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance Scheme (BSCFA) is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any function in relation to decisions on individual claims.

A person may qualify for payment of a BSCFA payment if he/she is in receipt of a social welfare or health executive payment, or is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education or training course, and has household income at or below specified levels.

The Dublin/Mid Leinster Area of the Executive have advised that it recently received an application for a back to school clothing allowance from the person concerned. A determination of her entitlement to payment is expected to be made shortly and she will be notified directly of the decision.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 336: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average delay in processing each social welfare application; his plans to address this delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24700/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to providing quality customer service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are issued as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply. These conditions vary from scheme to scheme and may involve, among other things, the need to establish the customer's social insurance record, verify medical incapacity for work, establish a customer's identity or their place of habitual residence and to assess means where appropriate. In some cases there is an unavoidable time lag involved in making the necessary enquiries to enable decisions to be made. Time can also elapse where the applicants do not supply all the necessary information in support of their claim.

Details of the average processing times for new claims for the month of May 2006, and year to date including figures to the end of May 2006, on a scheme by scheme basis, are set out below in a tabular statement.

In the past few years my Department has coped with increasing demands arising from significant changes to the social welfare code and in the numbers of persons accessing the system. While these factors have impacted on claim processing times, continuous efforts are made to improve these times. Against a background of increased workloads and scheme complexities, my Department has undertaken a number of initiatives designed to improve customer service. The overall service delivery modernisation (SDM) project, which involves radical business, organisational and IT changes to the way these pension schemes are administered, was recently extended to retirement and contributory old age pension schemes. Certain manual procedures and calculations have been automated so as to improve timeliness, accuracy and efficiency. The IT system will also have the facility to automatically generate and issue communications to the customer thus providing an improved level of information. Business procedures are being revised and the organisation of work is being restructured to maximise the benefits of the new IT system.

My Department is also developing enhanced management reporting systems as part of its Management Information Framework project. These reporting systems will provide detailed management information that will facilitate improved resource allocation and thus a better response to customer needs.

Apart from these developments, there is continued emphasis on providing staff with the necessary training and development so as to ensure they have the required knowledge and skills to carry out their work.

I am conscious of the need to provide a quality service to our customers, and with my officials, I am working towards ensuring that my Department continues to deliver a first class service.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 337: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average delay in processing unemployment benefit applications; the average backdated payment made to applicants; his plans to address this delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24701/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to providing quality customer service to all its customers by ensuring that claims for its various schemes are processed and decided as expeditiously as possible having regard to the eligibility conditions which apply.

My Department processes a large volume of claims and bearing in mind that each individual case has to be examined on its merits I am satisfied that, in the generality of cases, there is no undue delay on the part of my Department in processing such cases. The average number of weeks to award an unemployment benefit claim at the end of May 2006 was 2.28 weeks. Figures for the amount of backdated payments are not kept, however a customer who is unable to meet his/her needs and those of his/her dependants may apply for supplementary welfare to the local Community Welfare Officer.

The time taken to process individual claims varies significantly having regard to the difficulty in establishing the circumstances in each case. People claiming unemployment benefit payments must provide evidence of identification and address, and must satisfy conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work. Failure to provide this information on time can result in a delay in processing a claim.

Investigations may also have to be carried out in the case of unemployment benefit where details of social insurance contributions have not been submitted by the employer.

When a customer makes a claim they are given as much information as possible regarding the processing of their claim. They are advised of additional documentation, if any, they need to supply and whether further investigations are necessary to enable a decision to be made on their claim.

Claim processing performance is monitored on an ongoing basis and staff are deployed as necessary to meet the requirements of fluctuating volumes of work. In addition, my Department has developed a system of performance standards to ensure that all claims are processed without undue or unnecessary delay and that the customer receives his/her payment at the earliest possible date. These standards are monitored on an ongoing basis.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 338: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if rent allowance will be awarded in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [24755/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare Division of the Health Service Executive, a weekly or monthly rent supplement is available to assist eligible people who are unable to meet their immediate accommodation needs through their own resources. Neither I nor my Department have any function in relation to decisions on individual claims.

The Executive has been contacted concerning this case and has advised that the rent supplement claim is under review at present. The payment of rent supplement was suspended while awaiting the return of documentation requested by the Executive. The Executive advised that it has recently received the documentation requested and will be in contact directly with the person concerned on completion of the review.