Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 138: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the average letting duration for rent supplement claims in each of the past five years; and the average claim duration in each of these years. [12561/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the procedures followed when a local authority inspector declares a rental accommodation to be unfit for habitation and where the rent for that accommodation was being supported by rent supplement; the policy of his Department in reviewing other rent supplement payments to properties owned or administered by the same landlord or agent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12562/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the breakdown of the number of rent supplement recipients by rental type; and the expenditure on each category in 2006 and 2007 and the estimate for 2008. [12563/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rationale for imposing a flat rate contribution to rent for rent supplement recipients as opposed to a fixed percentage. [12564/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 142: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the respective penalties applying to landlords and tenants for falsely declaring the amount of rent on the rent supplement application form; and the specific offence committed. [12566/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 138 to 142, inclusive, together.

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term income support to eligible tenants living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The tenant makes the application for rent supplement and the Department's relationship is with the tenant in all cases. Payment is made to the tenant, is the property of the tenant and is specifically for the benefit of the tenant to assist them with their accommodation needs.

Rent supplement has over the years developed beyond the original objective of providing short-term assistance with accommodation costs. A significant number of people have now come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods, including people on local authority housing lists. The following table shows the average claim duration, in days, of rent supplement claims from 2003 to 2007. This represents unbroken continuous claims only. Where a rent supplement recipient changes address, a new tenancy is created the claim at the new address is recorded as a new claim and the duration spent at the previous address is not taken into account in these statistics. Statistics maintained quarterly for the Rental Accommodation Scheme show that at the end of 2007 there were over 32,000 people are on rent supplement for 18 months or more at one or more addresses. This is just over half of all rent supplement recipients.

Responsibility for setting and enforcing housing standards rests with the local authorities. However, under legislation introduced in October 2006 the HSE who administer the supplementary welfare allowance scheme on the department's behalf may refuse rent supplement where it has been notified by a housing authority that the accommodation concerned does not comply with standards. Where a notification is received from a housing authority in respect of an existing tenant the Community Welfare Officer would discuss the situation with the tenant and take whatever action it decides is necessary in the best interests of the tenant.

If the landlord of that tenancy has other rented properties then it would be a matter for the housing authority to decide if an inspection of the property is required and decide whether the landlord is in compliance with housing standards. The Community Welfare Service of the HSE is not qualified to undertake this work. The most recent information available from the HSE is that any notifications of substandard accommodation received from local authorities have resulted in rent supplement being terminated or the refusal of rent supplement where it was not already in payment.

The following table shows the total expenditure on rent supplement in 2006 and 2007 and the estimate for 2008. I also attach a table showing the number of recipients of rent supplement at 2006, 2007 and 28 March 2008. Almost all of these are in private landlord type accommodation. The numbers in the voluntary housing sector are minimal as those tenancies have been transferred from rent supplement to the Local Authorities under the rental accommodation scheme.

Rent supplement is calculated to ensure that the person, after payment of rent, has an income equal to the basic SWA rate, less a specified minimum contribution, currently €13, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. This minimum contribution gives clarity to the applicant as to his or her contribution to their rent and has not been increased since January 2004, despite significant increases in basic social welfare payments. Those who have income in addition to the basic supplementary welfare allowance rate may be required to contribute more than the minimum contribution but only after significant income disregards have been allowed in respect of that additional income i.e. disregard the first €75 of such additional income together with 25% of any additional income above €75 is disregarded for means assessment purposes. This ensures that those who have no additional income only pay €13 while those who have additional income may be required to contribute some of that additional income towards their rent.

Section 251(1) of Chapter 4 of Part 9 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 states that where a person for the purpose of obtaining or establishing entitlement to payment of any benefit for himself or herself or for any other person, is guilty of an offence where the person knowingly makes any statement or representation (whether written or verbal) which is to his or her knowledge false or misleading in any material respect, or knowingly conceals any material fact, or produces or furnishes, or causes or knowingly allows to be produced or furnished, any document or information which he or she knows to be false in material particular.

Section 257 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act states that a person who is found guilty of an offence under the Act is liable on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €1,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both, oron conviction of an indictment, to a fine not exceeding €13,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or to both.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of supplementary welfare allowance recouped in the years 2006 and 2007 under section 204 and Section 205 respectively of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. [12567/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Recoupment of supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) arises where, in respect of the same period, a customer has been paid SWA and is subsequently found to be entitled to another social welfare payment. As SWA is the temporary payment, all SWA paid, which would not have been paid had the social welfare payment been in existence at the time, is recoverable under Section 204 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. All SWA paid to a customer subsequently found to be entitled to another EU Member State payment is recoverable under Section 205.

This recovery is arranged by the Department at the weekly rate of the social welfare payment or the weekly rate of SWA paid whichever is the lesser. In the case of another EU Member State the recovery is arranged between the Health Service Executive and the Member State involved. €62.37million was recovered in 2006 under Section 204 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act and €65.19 million was recovered in 2007. Recoupments under Section 205 of the Act from other individual EU Member States are paid to the HSE and are lodged to the Department's account. As these are recorded under general receipts, no specific statistics are available.