Michael Farrugia
Poverty is not considered as a perception by this administration. It is seen as a reality upon which the government is acting. Latest NSO statistics show that the initiatives implemented in the last three years are reaping fruit in tackling poverty.
Increasing low income contributory pensions (a first in the last 25 years), lowering of energy tariffs by an average of 25 per cent, reducing transport fares mostly for the elderly, uniform prices for school children, abolishing income tax on minimum wage earners, introducing free childcare and family-friendly measures and creating new career opportunities have all helped improve Maltese families in empowering themselves to get out of the risk of poverty.
People receiving social assistance have gone down from 9,038 in 2014 to 5,829 by this June. Those previously on benefits and now in employment and benefitting from tapering of benefits have gone up from nil to 2,424. People on in-work benefit increased from nil to 1,571.
We have embarked on a new initiative in the community to assist those families in need to empower themselves.
Following the success of the EU co-financed LEAP pilot project, regional LEAP centres have been set up across Malta and Gozo. They specifically aim to combat poverty and social exclusion through a more grassroots outreach-oriented and integrated approach. Building upon this initiative, six regional development centres and four family resource centres were opened. Another four will be opened in the near future and gradually set up with the aim of providing a point of reference within the community for the provision of social support to the most vulnerable in our society.
We have embarked on a new initiative in the community to assist those families in need to empower themselves
We have already started profiling families living in poverty; allocating social mentors to mentor families in the upbringing of their children; giving parents skill-building and job training to make them employable; placing them into productive jobs and job mentoring.
This strategy is already giving very good results. In the first six months we managed to employ 274 individuals coming from impoverished households who now have productive jobs with the private sector, affecting directly a total of 817 household members. Hence, 95 children under 16 years of age who live in these households have been elevated from poverty.
The family resource centres will be the base for a multidisciplinary team and social mentors, families and children will be our main focus and beneficiaries. The professionals working within these services will offer an array of therapeutic interventions including intensive parenting work, specialised child interventions and multi-systemic therapeutic interventions.
We are committed to deliver further. In preparation for Budget 2017, the government has embarked on the preparation of a number of initiatives aimed primarily at those who are most vulnerable.
The Caritas report, which was presented to Cabinet during a genuine and detailed discussion, unlike what happened in 2012, will be used as a tool to aid my ministry in the various areas to be tackled in the coming months.
We have identified the rise in rent in the private sector as one of the issues that needs to be tackled. We plan to address this issue with short- and long-term measures. Various options have been put forward and we are now rounding up actions to be taken.
We have also identified the fact that not all those on benefits are employable.
Up to two years ago, the Department of Social Services assisted vulnerable people by offering benefits so they would not fall into absolute poverty. Over the past two years, we have added initiatives aimed at those who go in-work. As of next year, we will be increasing the benefits to those who, because of their severe disability, genuinely cannot work.
All these initiatives for the people will be built on previous actions taken and this is all thanks to a strong economy.
Michael Farrugia is Minister For The Family And Social Solidarity.
Paula Mifsud Bonnici
Poverty is not only about lack of income but is also about the denial of opportunities and choices that are broadly considered as essential to lead a long and healthy life and to enjoy a decent standard of living and dignity.
The progress of our country cannot be measured by GDP growth only. Sustainability principles dictate that equal care be given to environmental and social considerations and it is the State’s responsibility to provide a safety net for those who lag behind. In a context where our economic growth is strong, it has become unacceptable that the benefits of this economic strength are not trickling down to all the sectors of our society, particularly to the three low-income household categories referred to in the Caritas study – families made up of two adults and two dependent children, single parent families with two dependent children and elderly people.
Given also the extreme conservative nature of the baskets of essentials used in the study, the problem of poverty in Malta proved to be even more acute in these last years and statistics show that this government is moving further away from reaching the goal it set for itself in the electoral manifesto.
The government should be acting fast and it should be acting now
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has been quoted saying that if people work they can pull themselves out of poverty. But is this really the case? Is the minimum wage guaranteeing a decent living for every person, irrespective of their work? What about those who genuinely cannot work because of different types of disability? Are our social benefits granting them dignity and social justice?
The Caritas report dictates otherwise. Unfortunately, the price of essential items, particularly food, is going up at a much higher rate than the normal inflation rate and the more vulnerable families spend around half their income just on food. To add insult to injury, the increases in house rents are making it more difficult for these families to cope.
The government should be acting fast and it should be acting now. In November 2014, it launched the National Strategic Policy for Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion. However, we learnt a few days ago that the Prime Minister has instructed one of his deputy leaders to head a government working group to analyse proposals to alleviate poverty. Why is this government giving itself plenty of time while time is so much of the essence for all these families?
The government should be implementing (and not merely analysing) a clear programme aimed at eliminating poverty and social exclusion. The Opposition has made various recommendations already. First and foremost, the government should increase its efforts to help improve the competitiveness of certain sectors of our economy as this will in turn enable employers to improve wages. We also suggested that the government should provide more on-the-job training opportunities empowering people in employment to take on better-paid jobs. Moreover, all structural reforms should aim to provide adequate social protection and access to quality services, such as healthcare, childcare, education and housing.
Opting for an unbalanced diet may be a matter of choice of course but we must keep in mind that there are people out there who are unable to buy meat, chicken or vegetables every other day. This is unacceptable in a society that prides itself on generating wealth year-on-year. In last year’s pre-budget document, we proposed two direct actions to combat malnutrition in families living in poverty or at risk of poverty firstly by introducing a healthy food voucher system for families which cannot afford to buy healthy food and secondly, by promoting healthy living among schoolchildren. Caritas has called for such incentives too.
Let’s strive hard to reduce significantly the quite obscene levels of inequality that still prevail today between classes, among wage and salary earners, and also by gender. A fairly modest redistribution of resources from the privileged to the deprived should really help this government take the right decisions to reduce poverty considerably and effectively.
Paula Mifsud Bonnici is Shadow Minister for Social Policy.
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