department of social and family affairs annual report 2006 - Welfare.ie

Departments Disability Sectoral Plan a total
of seven meetings were held in 2006. The
primary objective of the Forum is to act as a
channel to communicate the views of such
organisations to the Department and engage
in positive dialogue with these organisations.
It provides a mechanism to review and make
recommendations, which can influence policy
formulation. In addition, the Forum reviews the
operation and administration of income and
employment support services delivered by the
Department.
> OBJECTIVE 2
Support the development and implementation of
responses to cross-departmental issues.
The development of policy requires close cooperation
with other Departments where a
particular policy initiative is shared across
Departments. This co-operation is critical to
the achievement of many of the Department’s
objectives and is manifest in many areas of
the Department’s activities including the
development of proposals arising from the
Government discussion paper “Proposals for
Supporting Lone Parents” (see Goal 2, Objective
3). Similarly, the work undertaken by the Long-
Term Care Working Group (see Goal 2, objective 6)
involved DSFA officials working closely with other
departments. The various employment supports
(see Goal 2, objective 2) are designed and
operated in co-operation with, inter alia, FÁS and
the Department of Education.
In other areas, departmental personnel
cooperated with staff of other Departments
as evidenced in the Working Group which was
established to prepare an Options Paper for the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on
Domestic Partnership and in the preparation of a
National Women’s Strategy.
> OBJECTIVE 3
Monitor and evaluate the performance of schemes
in meeting their desired objectives.
The expenditure/value for money review process
provides a basis for a systematic analysis of
what is being achieved by expenditure in
each programme area. Since the launch of
the expenditure review initiative in 1997, the
Department has completed 21 expenditure
reviews. The Review of the Supplementary Welfare
Allowance scheme (phase II) and the Review of
the Application of the Unemployment Benefit and
Assistance Schemes Conditions to Workers who are
not Employed on a Full-time Basis were completed
in 2006.
> Supplementary Welfare Allowance
(Phase II)
The second phase of the Review commenced
in February 2005 and consisted of an in-depth
examination of the efficiency and effectiveness of
the component parts of the scheme, the validity
of the objectives of the scheme, made a series
of recommendations in relation to the future
delivery of the scheme and specified suitable
performance indicators which can be used to
monitor and evaluate the scheme in the future.
The review is available on the Department’s
website.
> Unemployment (Jobseeker's)
Benefit and Assistance Schemes
Conditions for Atypical Workers
The review of the UA/UB schemes conditions as
they are applied to atypical workers was carried
out by a working group led by the Department.
It comprised representatives of the Departments
of Social and Family Affairs, Enterprise, Trade and
Employment, and Finance.
In order to identify and examine the objectives
of the Unemployment Benefit (UB) scheme
conditions in relation to part-time and other
atypical workers, the working group sought
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