Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on a national advertising campaign to promote greater awareness of social welfare entitlements, similar to the campaign being run by the Revenue Commissioner to promote greater awareness of tax allowances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7919/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department aims to ensure that all citizens are made aware of their rights and entitlements and that they are kept informed of changes and improvements in schemes and services as they occur. The provision of information in a clear and accessible manner is an essential element in the achievement of this objective.

My Department takes a pro-active approach in advertising its schemes and services by using a mix of national and provincial media, information leaflets, factsheets, posters, direct mailshots, advertising on television screens in over 60 Credit Unions nationwide, and by distributing information booklets to health centres throughout the country.

National advertising campaigns are undertaken periodically to promote greater awareness of a specific scheme or to highlight changes in schemes and services. The following campaigns were undertaken in 2006:

In March, my Department undertook a nationwide awareness campaign to promote and encourage take up of the Family Income Supplement (FIS) scheme. There was an increase of 82% in new claims and 32.5% in renewals for the period March to December 2006 compared with the same period in 2005.

In August, the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance was advertised in national and regional newspapers.

During the last week of September, an information campaign was conducted on television, on national and local radio and in national and regional newspapers to raise public awareness of the Carer's Allowance, Carer's Benefit and the Respite Care Grant schemes designed to provide supports for carers. This campaign proved very successful with, for example, an increase from 2005 to 2006 of 70% in the number of Respite Care grants issued.

My Department's PRSI information emailing service was advertised in the business supplements of the national newspapers in late November/early December. Early notification, by email, of PRSI changes such as Budget Information is provided to those who register their email addresses on my Department's website.

As part of the Budget awareness campaign, as in previous years, advertisements were placed in the national and regional newspapers in December listing phone numbers, including a Budget Freephone number, which customers could contact to receive information on changes in the various social welfare schemes and services.

The first targeted advertising campaign of 2007 has been conducted over the last two weeks regarding All Ireland Free Travel. The All Ireland Free Travel Scheme will enable citizens aged 66 or over to travel free within Northern Ireland with effect from the 2nd of April, 2007. Advertisements informing older people of their entitlements in this regard have been published in Sunday, National and Provincial newspapers and will be included in the next edition of the Senior Times magazine.

A LoCall helpline (1890 66 22 44) is provided for all campaigns. In addition to the LoCall number, the campaigns also highlight other sources of information available to the public, including my Department's website (www.welfare.ie), and my Department's network of Social Welfare Local Offices and the information services available through the network of Citizens Information Centres, including the Citizen Information phone service and website facility (www.citizeninformation.ie). The responses to the campaigns have been encouraging and resulted in increases in the number of applications received for the various schemes.

In view of the range of services available from my Department it would not be possible to highlight all of them in a single advertising campaign. Therefore, nationwide targeted advertising campaigns, focusing on specific schemes and services, will continue to be a key priority for me in the drive to ensure that citizens are aware of and claim their social welfare entitlements.