Filenews 2 March 2021
Today's social needs require the establishment of a State Department of Social Welfare to address the hundreds - if not thousands - of problems facing our society today and we need to help with all problems, stressed the Minister of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance Zeta Emilianidou before the Parliamentary Labour Committee.
The Commission discussed on Tuesday the bill on the creation of a State Department for Social Welfare, which was tabled by the Ministry of Labour as a matter of urgency.
According to the Minister, the aim is for the Social Welfare Department to be upgraded to the Ministry of Social Welfare with a coordinating role and horizontal responsibilities, to which the Social Integration Department of Persons with Disabilities and the allowances (SEE, low-income pensioners, child, single parent) managed by the Benefits Management Service will not currently be transferred.
At this point, Mrs Emilianidou explained that in the bill there is Article 12 which enables the Council of Ministers "with the completion of the structure and organisation of the Ministry of Social Welfare, to decide to transfer to the State Department the competence to examine and grant allowances under the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance in accordance with the relevant legislation on allowances, as defined, and transfer of the respective public officials'.
"The aim is not to create a State Department and from the first day it is created to transfer to it all these issues, which are too many, but to let this State Department complete its structure and organization, so that once this issue is completed the allowances can also be transferred," she stressed.
She said that "it was a fully conscious decision not to move them all together" and added that "we are aware of what problems society is facing today, but it is not the goal simply to get rid of issues and take them to a State Department and create more problems."
"Our goal is to modernise and upgrade the Department of Social Welfare so that we can respond to the issues that our society really faces," she stressed.
The Minister stressed that the aim is for the Social Welfare Department to be upgraded to a State Department with a coordinating role and horizontal responsibilities, which "will help coordinate all the necessary services related to social welfare issues, so that we can better deal with social affairs and care".
She also said that another goal is for all issues concerning the disabled, some of which are currently in the Department of Social Integration and some in the social welfare services, to be transferred all to the Department of Social Integration, where there is a section specifically on disability issues.
She noted that the bill was done with the help of the Legislative Commissioner and was legally drafted by the Attorney General.
Mrs Emilianidou appealed to the parliamentary parties that the bill, which was tabled in the House as a matter of urgency, should be dealt with quickly, because she believes, as she noted, that it is necessary "to give the necessary change to this section of social welfare that every day addresses what happens within Cypriot society and solves hundreds of problems of our fellow citizens every day".
In relation to reports of the absence of social dialogue, Mrs. Emilianidou said that the bill "does not concern labour issues so that I have to have social dialogue with guilds or with OEB or with KEVE", while in relation to the restructuring of the social welfare department she said that it had been posted on the Ministry's website for about two years for everyone to express their views.
The Minister of Labour said that her obligation, which she implemented, was to inform all parliamentary parties about the bills, and noted that in the bill there is no change in the status of civil servants to be transferred to the State Department.
According to Mrs. Emilianidou, the bill to create a State Department was "a huge effort because we absolutely believe that social policy issues are not issues that will be handled by a huge Ministry - such as the Ministry of Labour - which deals with social security, labour and dozens of other issues".
"One of the most important issues of the bill is the need to create a strong central body with coordinating and horizontal responsibilities for issues of promoting modernisation of society's services, the complex social problems that society currently faces and which are magnified and are much more complex," he stressed.
She said the Department of Social Welfare was created many years ago and "social needs require the establishment of a State Department to address the hundreds, if not thousands of problems facing our society today, and we need to help with all these problems."
Moreover, in statements after the Commission meeting, DISY MP Mariella Aristidou said that "social policy and welfare is a priority of the Government and demonstrates this through the creation of the Ministry of Social Welfare", adding that "through the modernisation and development of social welfare services, the aim is to address citizens' problems effectively".
"A strong central body with horizontal responsibilities, such as the Ministry of Social Welfare, will achieve the above objective," he added.
EDEC MP Elias Myrianthos said that the EDEC welcomes the creation of the Ministry of Social Welfare and added that the accumulated problems facing the Department of Social Welfare, which more than doubled during the pandemic period, make it imperative both to restructure social welfare services and at the same time to create the Ministry of Social Welfare".
"It is important from the beginning of the creation of the State Department to have a proper organisational structure, but also a proper staffing of the relevant departments that will be under the responsibility of the State Department," he said.
He added that "the EDEC stands ready to support this effort to enable the State Department to live up to its role, which is none other than the well-being of socially vulnerable groups of the population, ensuring conditions of social cohesion and solidarity, with a view to their safe and dignified living".
Citizen Cooperation Movement MP Giorgos Perdikis said the Movement supports the separation of responsibilities in the Ministry of Labour, adding that "it is very important to distinguish responsibilities relating to labour and social security issues from those relating to social policy".
"We believe that not only the Ministry of Social Policy, if the Constitution allowed it, we should create a Ministry of Social Policy," he added.
Mr. Perdikis said that the social problems that have arisen as a result of the economic crisis and its management, as well as the social problems that have arisen from the crown crisis, are enormous, adding that "we live in a modern and complex society and it is absolutely necessary to specialize government agencies in dealing with the major social problems".
"The restructuring of the social services of the state goes through the modernisation of structures," said Mr. Perdikis, while expressing the hope that "the decision to create a special State Department will help in this direction".
Source: eyenews/CYPE
