Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Since May 2008, some 825 posts have been assigned to the Department of Social Protection to fill critical staff vacancies and additional posts approved to deal with the significant increase in claims for the schemes operated by the Department. The assignment details on a yearly basis are set out in the following table. The majority of these posts have been sourced through the lateral transfer and redeployment of staff from within the Department and from other Departments. Staffing needs are kept under constant review to ensure the best use is made of all available resources. Processing times vary across schemes because of both the volume of applications and the differing qualification criteria. For example, means assessments are required for all of the social assistance schemes; medical examinations are required for some of the illness-related schemes and customers must also satisfy the habitual residence conditions. In the case of the insurance-based schemes, it may be necessary to ascertain details of foreign insurance records.

One of the main impacts on current service delivery has been the increase in the live register. In this context, the Department has introduced a range of process improvement initiatives regarding claims for jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit. One of the most significant initiatives, aimed at reducing queuing times and waiting times, involves the customer attending the local office by appointment at which time the claim is taken and decided.

Process improvements have resulted in a significant reduction in the number and proportion of all claims awaiting a decision. For example, there were 33,591 jobseeker claims awaiting a decision on 4 June 2011, equating to 7% of the total claim-load. This compares favourably to 5 June 2010 when 46,879 claims or 9% of claim-load awaiting decision and 74,553 claims or 16% awaiting decision in June 2009.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

My Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers. All scheme areas in the Department are subject to continuous business process improvement supported by modern technology, the potential of which is continuously harnessed and applied to maximum effect. The plans to integrate the community welfare service from the Health Service Executive into my Department together with the employment and other services of FÁS, and functions transferred from other Departments represent significant milestones in business transformation and will provide the basis for a new model of service delivery in my Department. This will ensure that our services and resources are organised to deliver effective, more timely, case management based, income and employment support services to our customer base. The following table details the number of posts per year assigned to the Department of Social Protection.

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