Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 692: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress in relation to the programme for Government commitment to implement significant improvements to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29946/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. While the allowance is not intended to meet the full cost of school clothing and footwear but it provides important assistance towards these costs.

A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if s/he is in receipt of a social welfare payment (including family income supplement), or Health Service Executive payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and has household income at or below certain set levels.

The back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provided support for parents at a time of financial strain. Improvements to the scheme in recent years give a major boost towards meeting the financial costs associated with return to school for those who most need assistance.

The rates of the allowance have been increased significantly. Since 2006, the allowance has increased by 67% from €120 to €200 in respect of qualified children aged from 2 to 11 years and by 61% from €190 to €305 for those aged 12 to 2 years. As a special measure introduced in Budget 2009 , an additional temporary allowance of € 215 is payable to 18 year olds in respect of whom half rate Child Benefit is payable. Total payment in respect of children in this category is €520 for the years 2009 and 2010.

In Budget 2009, the income thresholds for entitlement to back to school clothing and footwear allowance were increased by €50, bringing the income limit for the allowance for parents with one child from € 470.80 to € 560.00 (for couples) and €331.30 to €407.00 for lone parents, increases of almost 19% and 23% respectively. An estimated 18,000 more families will benefit from the scheme as a result of the increase in the income thresholds.

The number of children benefiting from the allowance increased from almost 162,000 in 2006 to over 200,000 in 2008 and it is estimated that in excess of 250,000 children will benefit in 2009. The number of families benefiting has increased from almost 79,000 in 2006 to 102,000 in 2008 with an estimated 140,000 families to benefit in 2009. Expenditure on the scheme has increased from €25m in 2006 to €48 m in 2008 with a financial provision of €68m made for 2009, a 172% increase in expenditure since 2006.

The improvements in BSCFA rates in recent years are very significant when viewed in the context of clothing and footwear price trends. According to the Consumer Price Index for May 2009, the overall cost of clothing and footwear has fallen by 10.8% over the past twelve months. Since December 2006, clothing and footwear costs have decreased by 16.8%.

Further improvements to the back to school clothing and footwear allowance scheme will be considered in the context of annual budgetary requirements, having regard to overall resources available for social welfare payments generally.