Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia said yesterday that the increases in supplementary allowances given in the Budget were so low, it would have been better had they not been given.

Speaking during the Budget debate on the votes of the Ministry of Education, Employment and the Family, Dr Farrugia said the allowances amounted to 54c for single persons and 86c for couples per week. Such increases, he said, were inadequate. The government could have been more generous, not least because spending on the supplementary allowance – given to the poorest strata of society – had actually decreased year-on-year.

Turning to social assistance, Dr Farrugia said it was right that the authorities clamped down on fraud. But there was a difference between law enforcement and practically making people go mad.

He noted that earlier in the debate, Labour MP Michael Farrugia had said that a person had contemplated suicide after his application for assistance was turned down. He also knew of serious cases which were refused including the case of a man who suffered acute depression and clearly could not work.

Dr Farrugia said he knew that the minister responsible for social welfare, Dolores Cristina, was sensitive to the people’s needs, and she also had a lot on her plate. But some issues needed to be tackled. For example, he said, unless the government started to help the ‘low cost’ private homes for the elderly, the demand for housing in government homes would rise steeply, at greater cost to the government. He noted that demand had already doubled in a short time.

Winding up the debate, Mrs Cristina said there was the need to review the blueprint on social services and see how these could be developed. These had to be personalised and more client-focused with ideally the client setting the blueprint of the services he or she needed.

She said this was the way forward. One had to strategically review the system to make it more rationalised without looking at any cuts in benefits.

The country did not have the means to waste services on people who did not need them while it had to focus on helping families which were in difficult situations. One had to review the system so that the situation would change over time. She also said that the first pension review was due to start in the near future.

Abuses should not be tolerated and assistance would stop in flagrant cases of abuse. However, assistance would not be withdrawn to families living in difficult circumstances. She said that an arbiter had been appointed in September to deal with appeals in cases of invalidity pensions and, by the end of October, 31 appeals had been submitted.

On social accommodation, Minister Cristina said that the Housing Authority was looking at services provided by the private sector and was trying enter into agreements using the private-public partnership model to improve the situation. It was also entering into agreements with local councils on the maintenance of common parts of government housing units.

The government would also analyse the situation at PBS after the restructuring programme it had embarked on six years ago. Investment in new technology was needed so that the system would be digitalised while one also had to look at the employment needs so that it would remain the leader in the market. One had to see how the building could be used more effectively.

Mrs Cristina criticised the opposition for its negative attitude on the budget for education. In certain instances the opposition MPs were in denial because they failed to look at the budget measures in a situation of international recession.

The budget for education had increased substantially and much more that the €1.2million as claimed by the leader of the opposition. Education was being reformed at all levels.

A holistic plan for child care centres was being implemented and the government had built child care centres of quality. Assistance was also given to private child care providers. After-school services were being provided in three centres. This aimed at increasing female work participation.

The transition process reform from the primary to the secondary sector was gradually moving forward. The reform aimed at decreasing the number of dropouts in secondary schools.

A working group had been set up to review the Matsec examination and to look at alternatives to enable students get better results. There was constant collaboration between the Child Development Assessment Unit (CDAU) and the education student support service on cases of children with individual needs.

The number of absentee students had decreased through the setting up of nurture and learning zones. Support was given to particular students and their families. The special education sector had three resource centres forming part of the college system.

The minister said that the number of students in higher education increased by 9,000 over the last 12 years from 14,000 in 1998.

The education authorities, the National Office of Statistics, the Malta Qualifications Council (MQC) and the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) were working on a study to better define early school leavers and submit new mapping to Eurostat on the same level as that of other countries.

MQC and NCHE increased their collaboration and synergy. These two agencies were to be merged and would also be responsible for licensing of education institutions. Work was in hand to review the levels at the sixth form sector. Changes in the education legislation to cater for higher education would be made gradually and the first step was to better define terms in this sector.

The ETC was liaisoning with the education and social security sectors. It was focussing on schemes which were aimed at vulnerable groups giving them assistance and support. While disability pensions were to be increased by €1.3 million, the government was acknowledging the value of work given by people with special needs and workers who were over 50.

The government had entered into a new agreement with the Inspire Foundation, increasing assistance to €800,000. The Equal Partners Foundation and the Association for the Deaf were each benefitting from a vote of €100,000. These had to have a clear output of work as the government insisted on accountability.

On social policy, she said that the government focussed on giving the best assistance possible to non-contributory pensioners.

Concluding, Minister Cristina said that she had a lot of queries on the concept of the living wage, adding that she feared it was being used as a catch phrase. She wanted to know how the opposition was going to calculate this wage, so that it would not leave a negative impact on vulnerable people instead of helping them.

Earlier, Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli said safeguarding jobs was the government’s priority and it had paid off. Malta was the fourth in the list of EU member states which had curbed unemployment. In the first nine months of the year, 3,233 had managed to find productive employment.

According to NSO statistics, in the second quarter, the number of workers between 15 and 24 increased by two per cent and unemployment in this bracket had decrease by one per cent.

In September, the registered unemployed were under the 2008 levels.

According to the ETC, the unemployed aged between 16 and 29 decreased by 500 or three per cent. And according to Eurostat, Malta was in the fourth rung of the ladder of those countries with less unemployment at 11.6 per cent. Cyprus, which the PL liked to use as a benchmark, had 20.6 per cent.

During the past 20 years, more than 90,000 were afforded training. Last year alone, more than 130 courses were offered to those unemployed aged between 16 and 30.

Other MPs contributing to the debate were Anġlu Farrugia, Evarist Bartolo, Chris Agius, Justyne Caruana, Roderick Galdes and Owen Bonnici (PL) and Karl Gouder, Edwin Vassallo, Frans Agius and Stephen Spiteri (PN).