More people risking poverty

Labour MP Karl Chircop complained in Parliament yesterday that the Retail Price Index is not adequately reflecting costs that ordinary families face every day.

Speaking during the budget debate on the Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity, Dr Chircop and Labour MP Marie-Louise Coleiro, who spoke before him, said the surcharge on water and power bills would make the people poorer and push many into poverty.

The savings ratio had declined from 10.86 per cent in 1995 to 1.04 per cent last year, Dr Chircop said. It rose to five per cent last year only because of the one-off foreign assets repatriation scheme, but he calculated that the ratio would fall to 1.4 per cent next year when the impact of the new power tariffs was felt.

Ms Coleiro accused the government of lacking vision, of being inefficient in administration and of imposing excessive taxation.

What social impact assessment had been made on how the new tariffs would affect small wage earners who were not eligible for a subsidy, families with disabled people and people who had to use certain electrical equipment?

Ms Coleiro said that two summers ago a national plan against poverty and social exclusion was announced and this identified a number of people who were at the risk of poverty, including the disabled, single parents, low ability people, and low income pensioners.

The poverty report said that 50 per cent of the unemployed were risking poverty. Compared with the EU15 average of 39 per cent, Malta's average was therefore higher. And the situation was now getting worse, not only because of higher costs but also because of rising unemployment.

Another problem the social sector was continuing to suffer from involved education. The national plan against poverty and social exclusion pointed to high levels of illiteracy and adults lacking skills for employment. While Malta surpassed EU countries in expenditure on education, it was at the very bottom when it came to results.

The national plan also highlighted the disabled as being at risk of poverty. Yet the financial allocation for the Commission for Persons with Disabilities had not been increased.

Dr Chircop said the budget continued to widen the gulf between the well-off and those who risked poverty.

Non-contributory benefits remained under the government's axe and spending on children's allowance would continue going down. This was not encouragement for people to have more children and reverse a drop in fertility.

Dr Chircop said the family was the biggest social investment and it was correct of the government to set up the Family Commission, but this could not make much headway with funding of around Lm15,000. The government could help the commission improve its performance by giving it more airtime on PBS, by giving preference to jobless fathers when job placements were made by the ETC, and by making housing through the Housing Authority more affordable.

Dr Chircop welcomed moves to standardise means testing. He hoped, however, that people who were benefiting would not lose their benefits because of this process.

Touching briefly on non-governmental organisations, he said such organisations were doing a lot of useful work and it would help if the government could project financial assistance to them over a longer term, to enable them to plan better.

Referring to the proposed pensions reform, Dr Chircop noted that while the MLP was criticised for not making its proposals or comments, the PN, officially, had not done so either. He could say, however, as a personal observation, that in current circumstances the people could not be expected to make more contributions to their pension.

Speaking on the employment sector, he expressed concern that the economy was creating part-time jobs, rather than full-time ones. While unemployment was worsening, the ETC was issuing too many permits for foreign workers.

The government had to open its eyes and constituted bodies should not seek just their own interests. They should meet and speak with families so that they would really know what they were going through.

Helena Dalli, opposition spokesman on women's rights, said nothing was currently being done about gender mainstreaming, and persons who acted as focal points were not even being contacted or called for meetings.

The Commission for the Promotion of Equality was barely heard and poorly funded.

She complained that children living in an environment of domestic violence were not being helped promptly but were being kept on waiting lists. What was being done to ensure they were given protection?

Mrs Dalli underlined the need for the people to be better aware of their rights under the Gender Equality Act. This was also much weaker than what the former Labour government had proposed. The Domestic Violence Act also fell short of what Labour had proposed.

Labour had also prepared an umbrella act on child care centres. Just before the budget Mepa issued guidelines on such centres, saying these had to provide as much as possible a family environment. But how would centres taking more than 25 children be able to do so?

In last year's budget the prime minister had said the government would be subsidising licensed child care centres, but this had not happened.

Labour MP Joseph Abela said the Commission for Persons with Disabilities offered a good service. It gave people a Lm500 grant on the equipment they were going to buy. Sometimes such people were given more by the Community Chest Fund, but equipment cost much more - a wheelchair could cost from Lm2,000 to Lm7,000, for example, and these people also had to have therapy and other care.

Referring to adult training centres, he said workers should be involved more in changes being planned. Although the unions were being consulted, workers did not know what was happening and what was to become of them. The time had come for such centres to have a structure in which a whole medical team was included.

Mr Abela underlined the need for more trained persons to be available to help people with disabilities, and for easier accessibility to buildings and road pavements.

Stefan Buontempo (MLP) said that according to the budget the Housing Authority was to be given Lm3 million to acquire dilapidated property, rehabilitate it and put it back on the market.

The minister last year said there had to be urban regeneration and committed herself that by mid-June she would move proposals regarding the rent laws for Parliament's consideration.

Was the scheme to concentrate on the inner harbour region, perhaps because of a person elected from this region? This scheme would render the authority a developer.

And how was the Lm3 million figure reached? In an interview with The Times, Housing Authority chairman Marisa Micallef said that 100 units were to be bought. This only reflected 0.5 per cent of vacant property. Who was going to choose the owners willing to sell?

Labour had planned similar schemes years ago. Why was this government only acting now?

What had become of the rent law proposals? Where was the proposed merger between the Social Housing Department and the authority?

The Labour MP complained that housing was out of the reach of low income families and the government needed to act effectively on affordability issues.