Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 981: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be approved and granted the bereavement grant. [28649/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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A bereavement grant of €635 issued to the person concerned on 27 July 2006.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 982: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will increase the qualifying guidelines for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme in view of the high costs being incurred by families with children returning to school, particularly the high costs of school books; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28652/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 983: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will amend the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme and link it with family income supplement in order that the people in receipt of FIS will automatically receive a back to school clothing and footwear allowance payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28653/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 984: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if Exceptional Needs Payments will issue to people who are in employment, for example in cases where household income is slightly over the guidelines for the back to school clothing and footwear scheme and there are a number of children in the household; the discretion within the Community Welfare Service in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28655/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 988: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if family income supplement is taken into consideration when assessing people for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28661/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 982 to 984, inclusive, and 988 together.

The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme, BSCFA, operates from the beginning of June to the end of September each year and is administered on behalf of my Department by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The BSCFA scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra clothing and footwear costs when their children start school each autumn. The allowance is intended as a contribution towards meeting the cost of school clothing and footwear. It is not intended to meet the full cost and it is not intended to meet school book costs. The Department of Education and Science operate a book grant scheme for primary and secondary schools.

A person may qualify for payment of back to school clothing and footwear allowance if they are in receipt of a social welfare or Health Service Executive payment, are participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at or below certain set levels. Family Income Supplement is a qualifying payment for back to school clothing and footwear purposes. People in receipt of FIS qualify subject to the standard means test and any income received by an applicant in the form of family income supplement is not assessable.

Budget 2006 provided for a number of improvements to the scheme. These include:

an increase of €40 in the rate payable which now means now means that from June 2006, an allowance of €120 is payable in respect of qualified children aged from 2 to 11 years, or €190 in respect of qualified children aged from 12 to 22 years. This represents an increase of 50% and 26% respectively over the amount paid lastyear.

Extension of entitlement to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance to recipients of guardian's (formerly orphan's) payments for the first time.

an increase in the additional income disregard for entitlement to the scheme from €50 to €100. The new income limits for the BSCFA scheme for 2006 are based on the maximum rate of state pension (contributory) (under 80) plus €100 in the case of married and cohabiting couples; and the maximum rate of widow's/widower's contributory pension (under 80) plus €100 for lone parents, plus child dependant allowance in each case. This means that the income limits for a couple with one child is €441.40 per week while for a lone parent with one child it is €314.90.

It is estimated that some 78,000 families will benefit under the scheme this year at a cost of €25m.

The Community Welfare Service of the Health Service Executive which administers the supplementary welfare allowance scheme on behalf of my Department may make exceptional needs payments to help meet an essential once-off cost which an applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. This exceptional needs payment is made solely at the discretion of the community welfare officer and is only made where exceptional circumstances exist.

I consider the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme to be an important support for parents at a time of particular financial strain. I am satisfied that the improvements to the scheme for this year provide a major boost to meeting the financial costs of clothing and footwear associated with return to school for those who most need assistance. While further improvements to the scheme, including automatic entitlement for those getting family income supplement, would need to be considered in the context of the Budget and in the light of resources available to me for improvements in social welfare payments generally, I intend to keep the scheme under review and to explore how it can be best targeted in the end to support those who most need it.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 985: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of applicants in County Mayo who were approved a payment in 2006 and for each of the past five years under the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme; and the cost of the scheme to date in 2006 for Mayo and for each of the past five years. [28657/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 986: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of applications received for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme in 2006 to date and for each of the past five years; the number of these applicants who were approved for the scheme; the cost to date in 2006 and for each of the past five years of this scheme; the average payment made to applicants in each period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28658/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 985 and 986 together.

The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The scheme is open toapplications from June to end-September each year.

In Budget 2006, the rate of the allowance was increased by €40 to €120 for children aged 2-11 and to €190 for children aged 12-22. The additional income disregard was increased from €50 to €100 per week. Entitlement to the allowance was also extended to recipients of guardian's (formerly orphan's) payment.

Statistics on the numbers and cost of applications approved in County Mayo are not available. However, details on the number of applications and annual cost of back to school clothing and footwear allowance for the former Western Health Board area (comprised of Counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon) for the years 2001-2005 are set out in Table 1 in the following appendix. Costs for 2006 to date for this area are not yet available.

The total number of applications received for back to school clothing and footwear allowance, the number awarded, the annual cost and the average payment per applicant for the years 2001-2006 are set out in Table 2 in the following appendix.

In 2006 as in previous years, the availability of the scheme was the subject of an extensive awareness/advertising campaign in the national and regional media.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 987: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will receive their respite care grant for the care they provide to their spouse. [28659/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1032: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be approved and paid the respite care grant. [29679/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 987 and 1032 together.

The person concerned submitted an application for the Respite Care Grant in respect of full-time care provided by her in respect of herhusband.

A decision not to award the Respite Care Grant in this case was made by a Deciding Officer on 19th September 2006. Amongst the documentary information relied upon by the Deciding Officer was the opinion of a medical assessor who, on examination of the medical evidence submitted with the application, was of the view that the person being cared for was not so incapacitated as to require full time care and attention.

A Deciding Officer may revise any decision on receipt of new facts or evidence. Should further medical evidence supporting the contention that the person in question requires full-time care and attention be submitted to my Department, the situation will be reviewed.

The carer is entitled to formally appeal the decision to disallow the respite care grant by submitting an appeal to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 989: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when an oral hearing will be arranged for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo to finalise their invalidity pension appeal. [28663/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned applied for Invalidity Pension on 24 June 2005. The application was disallowed by the Deciding Officer on 9 March 2006, following an examination by a Medical Assessor of the Department.

The person appealed against this decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 4 April 2006 and further medical evidence was considered by a second Medical Advisor on 15 May 2006 who expressed the opinion that the person concerned did not meet the requirements for Invalidity Pension. In accordance with the statutory requirements in relation to appeals the relevant departmental papers and comments of my Department were sought. These are now to hand and the case has been referred to an Appeals Officer who proposes to hold an oral hearing. The person will be informed as soon as the arrangements for the hearing are in place.

Under Social Welfare Legislation decisions in relation to claims must be made by Deciding Officers and Appeals Officers. These officers are statutorily appointed and I have no role in regard to making such decisions.