Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 78: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if and when it is intended to implement the proposal to transfer the administration of rent allowance from health centres to local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24009/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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There are no plans to transfer the administration of the rent supplement scheme to local authorities.

The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, which includes rent supplement, is currently administered on my behalf by the community welfare division (CWS) of the Health Service Executive. As the Deputy will be aware, in February of last year, the Government decided to implement the recommendations of the Core Functions of the Health Service Report. This provided for the transfer of certain functions, mainly from the Health Service Executive (HSE) to my Department. The main element of the decision was that income support and maintenance schemes including the SWA scheme should be transferred from HSE to my Department.

At present some 700 CWOs and 59 superintendents and supporting clerical and other staff within the CWS have responsibility for the local delivery of the rent supplement scheme as part of their overall administration of SWA. The transfer of the CWS to my Department will not change this and the CWS will continue to have responsibility for administering the rent supplement scheme.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 79: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on increasing the back to school, clothing and footwear allowance applied to the family income supplement using the threshold for two parent and one parent families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26197/07]

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the justification for including carers allowance as part of the means test for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme; and if he will commit to amending legislation in the next Social Welfare Act to disregard income from carer's allowance in these circumstances. [26279/07]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his response to the suggestion that a new back to school payment be introduced with higher qualifying income thresholds in place of the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme. [26280/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 79, 127 and 135 together.

The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (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 not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but only to provide assistance towards these costs.

A person may qualify for payment of an 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 below certain levels. The family income supplement (FIS) scheme is one of the qualifying payments for the purposes of the BSCFA scheme.

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 improvements to the scheme in recent years, namely an increase in income limits and an increase in the rates of payment respectively, provide a major boost to meeting the financial costs associated with return to school for those who most need assistance.

Any changes to the structure of the scheme, rates of payment, income limits or amendments to the qualifying criteria would have cost implications and would have to be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of resources available to me for improvements in social welfare payments generally.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will review or change the criteria for qualification for the blind persons pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26190/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The qualifying criteria for entitlement to Blind Person's Pension are that a person must be over 18 years of age, satisfy a means test and be so blind that he or she cannot perform any work for which eyesight is essential or cannot continue his or her ordinary occupation. In that regard, Blind Person's Pension has always been regarded as a scheme providing income maintenance for persons of working age i.e. up to 66 years.

The Blind Person's Pension was recently reviewed as part of the 2003 Review of the Illness and Disability Payment Schemes, which concluded that these schemes are successful in meeting their objective of providing income support to people with disabilities.

Any future changes to the qualifying criteria for Blind Person's Pension will be considered within the context of the transfer of the Blind Welfare Allowance scheme to my Department, as provided for by the recent Government decision that "income support and maintenance schemes together with associated resources should be transferred from the Health Services Executive (HSE) to the Department of Social and Family Affairs".