Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will roll out proposals allocating individual lone parents a trained welfare adviser from his Department to help access support for employment, education and training on a national basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5033/08]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when he will abolish the cohabitation rule in relation to the one parent family payment. [5244/08]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 99 of 31 October 2007, if the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion has received the report on the non-income activation proposals which were carried out in Coolock and in Kilkenny until the end of 2007; the way he will progress the nationwide roll-out of the new lone parents proposals in particular in relation to education, training and labour market activation measures; if a definitive date has been set for same in addition to the publication of necessary legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5264/08]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 138: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether it is the large cost of providing welfare to lone parents that is the main motivation for the reforms to the lone parent payment, as opposed to a desire on the Government's behalf to help parents re-enter the work force or to tackle poverty in one parent families. [4611/08]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 147: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether changes to the equal opportunities child care programme, where it is proposed that only parents dependent on social welfare can avail of places for free, will act as an impediment to lone parents who wish to enter the labour force. [4614/08]

Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on whether moves to oblige lone parents to leave their children when they turn eight and enter the work force or training are discriminatory against single parent families. [4610/08]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 158: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action he will take to deal with the fact that one in five of all families are headed up by lone parents, of which 40 per cent of these families are living in relative poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5032/08]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 159: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when he will act on the proposals contained in Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents; and the way he will co-ordinate services and address poverty traps associated with some of the proposals. [5237/08]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 167: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if new staff will be taken on in his Department to facilitate the provision of trained welfare advisers to lone parents being moved from welfare to work or if there are existing staff in training to provide the specialised assistance needed. [4613/08]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 171: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he plans to put the relevant infrastructure in place such as affordable and reliable child care places to allow lone parents enter the labour market; and if his attention has been drawn to other Department's plans in this regard. [4612/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 120, 128, 135, 138, 147, 151, 158, 159, 167 and 171 together.

The Government discussion paper, "Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents," put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the National Employment Action Plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of childcare; improved information services for lone parents and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low income families with young children. The paper also proposed the abolition of the cohabitation rule as a condition for receipt of the proposed social assistance payment. Under the proposals, the contingency of lone parenthood would no longer exist. Instead, a new payment would be made to all parents (living alone or with a partner) with young children on low income.

One of the proposals in the report was that the upper income limit for the new social assistance payment should be set at €400 per week. This proposal was implemented in Budget 2007 which in effect meant that the upper income limit increased by more than one third in two years. To reiterate the Government's commitment to aiding lone parents this rate will again increase from May to €425 per week. In addition, the report recommended increasing the qualified child increase for recipients of the one-parent family payment. In Budget 2007 the three rates of qualified child increase, which had been maintained at the same levels for a number of years, were combined into a single rate of €22 per week in respect of over 340,000 children of welfare families. This increased to €24 per week in Budget 2008.

The new social assistance payment, under development in my Department, far from being discriminatory, has the long term aim of assisting people to achieve financial independence through supporting them into education, training and ultimately employment — the avenue that is widely agreed to offer the best route out of poverty. Any proposed new payment can only be introduced when the necessary co-ordinated supports and services are put in place on the ground by other Departments and Agencies. Discussions, which are chaired by the Department of An Taoiseach, are ongoing with the relevant Departments and Agencies on key issues including childcare, education, training and activation measures.

My Department, with the co-operation of FÁS, the Office of the Minister for Children and the Department of Education and Science, is currently testing the non-income activation proposals in Coolock, Dublin and in Kilkenny. These tests are focusing on identifying and resolving any practical and administrative issues that may arise in advance of the scheme being introduced. The tests are now expected to run until at least the end of February, with a report then being made to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion. They will allow for operational and logistical co-ordination between the relevant Departments and Agencies to be considered and will facilitate the development of the policy and operational details of the new scheme and accompanying supports, including childcare.

Access to quality, affordable childcare is crucial to ensuring that the new proposals can provide the necessary supports to help lone parents combat the risk of poverty. Although the new social assistance payment for low income parents of young children is still under development in my Department, it is envisaged that it will be a qualifying payment for the purposes of entitlement to the community childcare subvention. At the moment there is no definite date for the nationwide roll out of these reforms, but following the evaluation of the tests it is hoped to move forward with the proposals as soon as possible. I can confirm that there are currently 40 facilitators in my Department promoting participation and social inclusion through activation measures aimed at all people of working age, including lone parents. It is envisaged that an additional 30 Facilitators will be recruited during 2008 to progress and expand the participation programme.