Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 433: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on offering the free schemes to all recipients of contributory of non-contributory widows or widowers pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32134/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The household benefits package, which comprises the electricity and 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 and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. 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 that households do not suffer a loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse. People aged over 70 years of age can qualify for the household benefits package regardless of their income or household composition.

A range of proposals have been made to extend the coverage of the household benefits package of free schemes. These proposals are kept under review in the context of the objectives of the scheme and budgetary resources.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 434: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he proposes to modify qualification for payment of rent allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32135/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The purpose of the scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. Specific exclusions relate to applicants and spouses in full-time employment, those engaged in certain courses of study and those involved in trade disputes.

A person claiming rent supplement must be also a bona fide tenant, be habitually resident in the State, have a housing need and satisfy a means test. In addition, the HSE must be satisfied that the accommodation is suited to the persons needs and the rent payable is within the prescribed limits.

Overall, I would consider the current rent supplement qualifying conditions to be adequate in meeting the objective of the scheme. This is evident in the fact that just over 60,000 people were in receipt of a supplement at the end September 2006.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme have broadened in recent years with improvements in the means test and, in the context of supporting a return to work, through the provision of special retention of entitlement arrangements for those who have been unemployed for 12 months, for part-time workers and for those on back-to-work schemes.

Any further improvements to the existing rules governing the scheme with expenditure implications will need to be considered in the light of future Budgets and overall resources available to me for social welfare payments generally.