asked the Minister for the Public Service the plans he has to extend staff welfare service for staff with social or other difficulties within the Civil Service and when improvements, if any, will take effect.

The Government's proposals in relation to staff welfare in the Civil Service are contained in paragraph 7.11 of the White Paper "Serving the Country Better".

The staff welfare service is currently the subject of discussions with the staff side. I hope that the results of these discussions can be announced in the near future.

Would the Minister outline to the House what is the present welfare service for staffing and in what areas he personally would like to see an extension of these services, because I think he will agree that that section in the White Paper is extremely vague?

The Deputy asked if I would outline to the House the present——

What is the present welfare system which is in operation?

At present there is a service operated by a small number of full time and part time staff. I have to say that there are only 11 full time welfare officers operating in eight Departments and offices at present. Other Departments have a part time service, usually provided by an officer in the personnel section, while some Departments have no service at all but deal with problems that arise on an ad hoc basis. For some time the Government have been concerned about this situation. We have been having discussions with the staff representatives. We hope to have further discussions with them next week when we will be discussing specific proposals, including the numbers, grading and activities of staff who might be engaged on a full time basis in the welfare service.

Without meaning to be critical, because I am sure this position has been built up over a number of years, and not in any way downgrading the very valuable work done by the present welfare service, would the Minister argue that a staff of 11 just could not carry on the necessary service in a meaningful way? Will the Minister ensure that an adequate, not over-staffed, but an adequate welfare service will be provided for the Civil Service at an early date?

This is an area about which I have become increasingly concerned. The welfare service does provide a range of very important back-up facilities. But the service, because of the numbers involved, can be of a limited nature only although, as I said, the personnel section in Departments where there is not a full time welfare service available, do carry out this work also. The Government, as a good employer, have a particular responsibility in this area. I hope it will be possible henceforth to implement improvements of a progressive nature, bearing in mind, of course, staffing difficulties.