Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on maintaining the disability allowance at 30% of the average industrial wage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32269/07]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on increasing the limits for earned income for those on disability allowance; if there are proposals in place to change this limit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32270/07]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 379: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his Department has completed its research into disability allowance claimants as referred to in his speech (details supplied); if not, when this will be completed; the action that will be taken as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32241/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos 100, 122 and 379 together.

The appropriateness of benchmarking Disability Allowance and other social welfare rates was examined in 2001 by the Social Welfare Benchmarking and Indexation Group. The Group published its final report in September 2001 but did not achieve a consensus position on the desirability of establishing a formal benchmark, including the 30% of Gross Average Industrial Earnings benchmark.

However, the report did provide a valuable resource for the assessment of the implications of adopting particular approaches to the up rating of social welfare payments and was considered by Government as part of the review of the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS) in 2002. Recognising that the exact rate was a matter for Government, the Strategy set a target of €150 per week (in 2002 terms) for the lowest social welfare payments, including Disability Allowance to be met by 2007. This target was achieved in Budget 2007.

The current social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, commits the Government and social partners to working together to achieve the NAPS target and to maintaining the value of Disability Allowance and other social welfare rates at this level over the course of the agreement, subject to available resources.

In addition to its income support role, Disability Allowance also acts as an incentive to employment or training though the income disregard for rehabilitative employment. Prior to 1 June 2006, this income disregard operated on the basis of a flat income limit of €120 meaning that, once a person exceeded earnings of €120 per week, payment of their Disability Allowance was withdrawn on a euro for euro basis. This approach provided no incentive to increase earnings from employment above that level and conflicted with one of the underlying policy principles relating to incentives to work; that there must be a reward for working.

A review published by the Department of Social and Family Affairs in 2003 of the Illness and Disability Payment Schemes suggested that continually increasing the income disregard level is not the most appropriate answer to the disincentive problem. Instead, that Review favoured introducing a mechanism which would allow for the gradual reduction of social welfare benefits as earnings increase, thereby allowing people who increase their earnings or employment potential to see an increase in the overall income level.

It was in this context that a change to the income disregard was introduced, as of from 1 June 2006, with the result that there is no longer a flat income limit of €120 but instead a tapered withdrawal rate between €120 and €350. The effect of this is that all income up to €120 is disregarded as means when assessing entitlement, while income between €120 and €350 is assessed on the basis of 50 cents for every euro earned. For a person on the maximum personal rate of Disability Allowance, this means they can now earn up to €420 before their payment fully ceases.

The Review of the Illness and Disability Payment Schemes, referred to above, was a wide-ranging and comprehensive review which, when examining Disability Allowance, also recommended a further review of the significant increase in the number of recipients of Disability Allowance since my Department took over responsibility for it in 1996. It is now my intention to undertake this review in order to look at this increase in numbers as well as at how best the allowance can support the objectives of my Department's Disability Sectoral Plan, especially in the area of activation and participation.

The terms of reference for this review are currently being finalised within my Department. However, the forthcoming publication by the Central Statistics Office of findings from the National Survey on Disability in Ireland carried out in 2006 will be central to this review as it will allow the Department, for the first time, to 'match' the incidence of disability in Ireland against the numbers in receipt of disability allowance. Publication of this survey by the Central Statistics Office is not expected until early 2008 and this will impact on the final production of my Department's review.

All issues in relation to Disability Allowance, including changes to either the rates of payment for Disability Allowance or the income disregard, or recommendations emerging from future reviews, will be considered within the context of the overall social welfare budgetary package.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 101: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has received the NESC research on the possible merging of family income supplement and child dependent allowances; and the action he proposes to take. [32187/07]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will provide a progress report on the welfare reforms outlined in the Programme for Government for child income support; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32275/07]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on proposals to change the family income supplement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32279/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 129 and 134 together.

The Agreed Programme for Government contained a series of welfare reforms aimed at prioritising the interest of families and children.

Under the terms of an earlier Social Partnership agreement the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) was asked to examine the feasibility of merging the family income supplement with qualified child increases with a view to creating a single second tier child income support. Such a payment would be aimed specifically at targeting child poverty by channelling resources to low-income families without creating significant disincentives to employment. This commitment to examining such a change was subsequently embodied in the current social partnership agreement 'Towards 2016'.

It is still unclear when the outcome of their deliberation on the issue will be made available by the NESC. What is clear, however, is that there are complex policy and technical challenges to be overcome if these two payment instruments are to be amalgamated. This document will, no doubt, confirm this and will be of assistance in informing developments in this area.

The importance of targeted income support to families and children continues to be a high priority for me and for this Government and recent changes have seen substantial improvements in this area. These include increased weekly income thresholds for all FIS family sizes with additional resources being directed at larger families, as research has shown that this is where poverty is more likely to exist.

Also this year all three rates of qualified child increase, which had remained unchanged since 1994, were consolidated to a single rate of €22 per week. In addition, significant improvements were made to the annual back to school clothing and footwear allowance, which provides income support for the poorest families at a particularly difficult time of the year.

These changes represent a more selective approach to child income support through targeting children in poorer households while at the same time limiting the extent to which employment disincentives are increased. Maintaining this balance will remain a priority in consideration of future policy changes in this area.