Written answers

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

Department of Social Protection

Social Welfare Benefits Reviews

Photo of Willie O'DeaWillie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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280. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when his Department expects to complete the review of changes to the one-parent family payment, as committed to during passage of the Social Welfare Bill 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6764/17]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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During the debate on the Social Welfare (SW) Bill 2016, I agreed that my Department would commission an independent report on the OFP reforms, which requires a tender process, to examine the financial and social effects of the amendments to the scheme made since 1 January 2012, taking into account the poverty rates and welfare dependency of those impacted by the reforms. This is now in legislation. I am committed to producing the report as quickly as possible, so that it can inform Budget 2018 discussions.

Under procurement rules it is not yet possible to provide further information on the nature of the report. However, I can confirm that my Department is liaising with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) on the most efficient way forward. On their advice an outline of the Request for Tender (RFT) was issued in December 2016 to potential providers seeking expressions of interest by 11th January 2017. The responses received confirmed that the RFT can issue under an existing OGP framework, which is the most efficient and quickest way of procuring this evaluation.

The drafting of the RFT is well underway within my Department. It is critical that the RFT fully reflects the nature and scope of the report required and so it is important to dedicate the necessary time and effort to this step. This is to ensure that the resultant tenders are of a high quality and that the end result is an effective and comprehensive evaluation. My Departmental officials met with officials the OGP on 6th February 2017 to discuss further the RFT and the procurement process. Once the RFT is finalised it will be issued by the OGP to relevant providers under their framework for response.

The timeframe for this report is ambitious but my Department is making every effort to progress this quickly taking account of the procurement rules.

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