My colleague, Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Callely, has recently established a working group on the needs of older people, which includes a representative from my Department. While the operation of the disabled persons grant scheme and the housing aid for the elderly grant scheme has been discussed in the working group, there are no proposals to amalgamate the schemes or to have either the health board or the local authority administer any amalgamated scheme.
In relation to the disabled persons grant, I understand from inquiries made by my Department with local authorities that over 3,000 grants were paid in the period 1 January to 31 July 2002. Some 4,500 applications were approved at that date while local authorities had a further 6,700 applications on hands. Health boards manage the housing aid for the elderly grant scheme and it is understood that just over 9,700 applications were on hands at the end of June 2002. The average waiting period for each scheme would vary for each local authority and health board and this information is not available in my Department.