David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on extending the deadline for applications for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance from the end of September to end of November each year; the financial and other implications of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40913/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme (BSCFA) 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 costs when their children start school each autumn. The allowance is intended as a contribution towards meeting the full cost of school clothing and footwear.

Applications for the allowance may be made between the beginning of June and the end of September each year. This period was designated as it is the time that parents are preparing and budgeting for back to school expenditure. As the principal objective of the scheme is to assist eligible families with the extra costs when their children start school each autumn, the most practical time to implement the scheme is in the lead up to each new academic year. In dealing with the large volume of applications received the Health Service Executive deploys additional staffing resources for the duration of the scheme during the June to September period. Where applications are made after the September deadline, the Health Service Executive has discretion to pay an Exceptional Needs Payment (ENP) to assist claimants with back to school expenditure.

Current indications are that about 84,000 families with approximately 172,000 children will benefit from the scheme this year at a cost of €25.4m. This is an increase on the 2005 figures when some 76,166 families with 157,254 children benefited at a cost of €16.7m. This can be mainly attributed to improvements in income disregards introduced this year, and the significant level of publicity given to this scheme in the media and through the other information services operated by my Department.

Extending the deadline for applications for back to school clothing and footwear allowance is not necessary given the fact that exceptional needs payments are paid out in the case of late BSCFA applications, where appropriate. Accordingly, at this stage, I have no plans to extend the period of application beyond September, I will continue to keep it under review.