Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 277: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of increasing the earnings disregard under the social welfare allowance rent mortgage supplement by €25 per week to €100 per week. [28396/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The exact cost of increasing the earnings disregard under the rent and mortgage interest supplement schemes by €25 per week to €100 per week is unknown due to the wide variations in rents and mortgages paid by household of different sizes and the unknown impact of such increases on the take-up of the scheme. As an indicative guide, it is estimated that the proposal could add some €2.3 million to scheme costs in a full year.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 278: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of increasing the income threshold for entitlement to the one parent family payment by €100 per week to €500 per week. [28397/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The estimated cost of increasing the upper earnings disregard for recipients of the one parent family payment is €6.6 million for a full year.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of removing the old limit of €317.43 for back to school clothing and footwear allowance where it applies and increase it to €400. [28398/07]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 286: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of increasing all the minimum income limits for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance by €20. [28520/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 279 and 286 together.

The income limits for the BSCFA scheme for 2007 are based on the maximum rate of state pension (contributory) (under 80), plus the qualified adult allowance, plus €100 in the case of married and cohabiting couples; and the maximum rate of widow's/widower's contributory pension (under 80) plus €100 for Lone Parents, plus child dependant allowance in each case. Income Limits for 2007 are €470.80 for a couple with one child and €331.30 for a lone parent with one child.

The limit is increased by €22.00 for each qualifying child. In line with other secondary benefits, a means test is applied to ensure that limited resources are directed to those in greatest need. Apart from a number of exceptions, all household income, including welfare payments is assessable as means under the BSCFA scheme in accordance with the normal assessment for supplementary welfare allowance. The exceptions to these rules are that any income received in the form of family income supplement (FIS), higher level education grants or the first €120 earnings from employment of a rehabilitative nature is disregarded for the purposes of the BSCFA scheme.

A 'secondary' income limit for BSCFA applied to those who did not qualify on standard means grounds but who satisfied all other conditions and were eligible to receive BSCFA if their gross household income did not exceed €317.43 per week. This limit of €317.43 was used in situations where applicants were on designated back to work or education schemes or other employment initiatives. The value of this secondary limit has been eroded progressively by the passage of time and the limit of is being phased out for entitlement to BSCFA.

It is not possible to accurately project the impact of removing the old limit of €317.43, or increasing this limit to €400.00 on expenditure on the BSCFA. The additional numbers qualifying would depend on the number of hours worked, if any, for each individual applicant, the training course or employment initiative being undertaken, any additional household income or means, and also the social welfare or health service payment of the applicant. Estimated calculations, based on projected income limit increases, have shown that somewhere in the order of an additional 1,000 people would qualify for BSCFA by raising the minimum income limits by €20.00. This would increase the annual expenditure on the scheme by €0.5m.

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. The main BSCFA income limits have increased over recent years and as the limits are aligned to pension payments they are automatically indexed upward each year with budget increases. Any further improvements to the scheme would have to be considered in the light of resources available in Budget 2008 for improvements in social welfare payments generally. .

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of increasing the daily income disregard for jobseekers benefit to €25. [28399/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker's benefit is an insurance based payment and the daily income disregard does not apply to this scheme. I presume the Deputy is inquiring about jobseeker's allowance and farm assist which are means tested payments where casual worker's earnings are assessed with a daily income disregard of €20. There are approximately 5,800 casual workers in receipt of jobseeker's allowance. To increase the daily earnings disregard for these workers would cost some €2.7m.

This income disregard was increased last September as a result of changes introduced in Budget 2007. Previously there was a daily income disregard of €12.70 for casual workers, which did not apply to workers with qualified children. The new arrangements extended this disregard to all casual workers.

The daily earnings disregard of €20 was also extended to the spouse or partner of a recipient of jobseeker's allowance, pre-retirement allowance, farm assist and disability allowance. This significantly simplified and streamlined the assessment of means from earnings for this group. It is not currently possible to estimate the cost of increasing the disregard for this group as my department is in the process of reviewing the means assessment for these recipients. When this review is completed I will be in a position to give an estimated cost for this proposed increase.

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 281: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of reducing the weekly hours of work required to be eligible for family income support to 15 hours per week or at least 30 hours every fortnight. [28400/07]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 284: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost per year of increasing the minimum payment of family income support from €20 per week to €30 per week. [28501/07]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 288: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the estimated cost per year of extending the family income supplement to participants on the back to work enterprise allowance. [28522/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 281, 284 and 288 together.

It is not possible to estimate the cost of reducing the required minimum hours from 38 hours per fortnight to 30 hours per fortnight in time available as the number of additional people in a position to avail of the supplement would have to be ascertained, taking into account the availability of existing disregards and tapered withdrawal of payments. Furthermore, as FIS is designed to ensure the maintenance of a significant attachment to the workforce, a reduction in the number of hours required to be eligible for FIS would work against the thrust of the scheme.

The annual cost of increasing the minimum FIS weekly payment from €20 to €30 is estimated at some €0.8 million. This is based on the current number of people who are availing of the supplement and receiving the minimum payment. It is not possible to estimate the cost of extending FIS to participants on back to work enterprise allowance (BTEA) scheme as FIS is a means-tested social assistance payment targeted at low-income families, while the back to work enterprise allowance programme is not means-tested, as it guarantees a percentage of the social welfare payment which applied prior to taking up self-employment, regardless of the level of income from the self-employment. Any extension of FIS in the ways proposed would have to be considered in the context of policy development and budgetary constraints.