Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether the practice of back paying the early childcare supplement in April for the period 1 January to 30 March adds to the financial burden of families when it comes to having to budget for the cost of childcare; and the total amount of payments made in this period. [15334/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department administers payment of the Early Childcare Supplement (ECS) on behalf of the Office of the Minister for Children. The ECS is intended to help families meet the costs of childcare. The supplement is paid every three months, in arrears, in respect of children under 6 years of age who qualify for child benefit.

The ECS commenced in April 2006 and three payments issued to eligible parents in August, October and December 2006. In 2007, some 290,000 families received an ECS payment with total expenditure in the current year a mounting to €101.9m. Some 13,000 families qualified for the supplement for the first time since January 2007.

The ECS is paid to the person with whom the child resides for the majority of the relevant quarter. As children may move between households it is necessary to establish a child's residency pattern in any quarter to identify to whom the ECS payment is due. Payment of the supplement is made to the person who received child benefit payment for the majority of the quarter. As these facts have to be established before payment issues it is necessary to pay ECS in arrears.

The introduction of the ECS has been well received by customers. I am satisfied that the scheme is currently operating satisfactorily.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of households in receipt of rent supplement; the number who have been in receipt of the payment for more than 18 months; the number whose cases have been reviewed under the rental accommodation scheme to date; the number allocated housing to date under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15317/07]

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.

Rent supplement under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme has, over the years, developed beyond the original objective of providing short-term assistance with accommodation. A significant number of people have now come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods, including people on local authority housing lists. For this reason, the scheme has to be viewed in the context of overall housing policy, particularly in the case of long-term claimants.

In response to this situation, the Government introduced new rental assistance arrangements which include the rental accommodation scheme (RAS). This gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more. This new approach is being implemented on a phased basis.

Local authorities will meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and, in particular, a new public/private partnership type rental accommodation scheme.

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government have advised that the rental assistance arrangements are now being implemented in all local authority areas with some 20,000 cases reviewed. That Department has also advised that at the end of March 2007 local authorities had accommodated a total of 6,119 rent supplement cases with a long-term housing need. This includes 2,249 transfers to accommodation provided by the voluntary sector, 1,200 transfers to accommodation rented by local authorities in the private rented sector and 2,670 transfers to local authority housing.

At 13th April 2007, there were 59,012 tenants in receipt of a rent supplement payment of which approximately 32,000 have been in receipt of a payment for 18 months or more.

When the new rental assistance arrangements have been fully implemented I expect that in excess of 30,000 individuals will have transferred from the rent supplement scheme to the local authorities under the rental accommodation scheme or other social housing schemes. This will enable the rent supplement scheme to revert to its original objective, namely that of a short term income support scheme.