Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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718. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he plans to publish the expenditure review of the orphan's payment; his plans on reforming this payment to bring it in line with the foster payments; the number of families in receipt of the orphan's payment; the total annual expenditure for 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25192/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Guardian’s payment (contributory) and guardian’s payment (non-contributory) are, respectively, social insurance and social assistance (means-tested) payments made to a person caring for a child, where that child is defined as an orphan under social welfare legislation. These payments were known as orphan’s payments until they were re-named in July 2006. Both payments are paid at the weekly rate of €161 per week.

Currently, there are around 1,500 people receiving guardian’s payments, in respect of approximately 2,000 orphans. Some guardians are receiving the payment for more than one child. In 2015, expenditure on this scheme amounted to €17.6 million.

The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007–2016 sets out a wide ranging programme of action to address poverty and social inclusion. The plan includes the income support target for children as follows: "maintain the combined value of child income support measures at 33%-35% of the minimum adult social welfare payment rate over the course of this Plan".

In the case of guardian’s payment cases the total weekly child income support provided, when child benefit is included, amounts to €193.30. This is equivalent to 104% of the minimum adult social welfare payment rate of €186.

The guardian’s payment schemes were reviewed as part of my Department’s Expenditure Review Programme in 2002-2003. The Expenditure Review Report was published in March 2003 and is available on the Department’s website, www.welfare.ie. I have arranged for a copy of the Report to be sent to the Deputy.

In assessing the adequacy of the rate of guardian’s payments, the Review found that the guardian’s payment scheme and the foster care scheme differ fundamentally in their purpose and in view of the adequacy of the rate of guardian’s payments, it did not consider that the rate of guardian’s payments should be increased to the rate of the foster care allowance.

There are no plans currently to increase the rate of guardian’s payment to equate that of foster care allowance, and any decision to increase the rate of guardian’s payment would have to be considered in an overall budgetary context.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.