Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The transfer of the community welfare service to the Department of Social Protection is part of the process of streamlining the health service. By taking income support functions from the HSE and merging them with my Department, the HSE has more capacity to concentrate on its core functions of health service delivery. As a first step in the process, the staff of the community welfare service were transferred on secondment to the Department from the Health Service Executive on 1 January this year. During this time they have remained employees of the HSE and retained their current terms and conditions of employment. Plans are well advanced to have them fully transferred to the Department by the end of September. Talks are ongoing at the Labour Relations Commission to agree the terms for the final transfer. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further on the labour relations aspects of the transfer at this time. The Department is confident that the talks, taking account of some recent recommendations from the Labour Court, will conclude in time for the transfer to be completed by the target date.

The community welfare officers coming into the Department are part of the creation of what one would call a public employment service, to be called the National Employment and Entitlements Service, whereby somebody will be able to have an integrated service for entitlements to payments and income, as well as advice on jobs and training opportunities. This will ensure people will be positively encouraged to take up options and opportunities offered in respect of training.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The transfer of the community welfare service to my Department is also part of the process of developing and implementing the National Employment and Entitlements Service, a commitment given in the programme for Government. In establishing this new service, the aim of the Department is to integrate employment and benefit payments within one service and thus provide a more complete service for customers. The focus of the new service will be on activation; enabling and encouraging the individual to take up job opportunities and engage on developmental pathways to employment. Continued payment of full welfare allowances-benefits will be conditional on the individual engaging in this process.

Since January my Department and the HSE have been working closely to ensure the various HR and administrative systems such as payroll records and IT systems will be put in place for the full transfer of staff at the end of September. Significant progress has been made as follows: legislation providing for the integration of the community welfare service with the Department, including the transfer of staff and buildings, was passed in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010. This provision is subject to a commencement order which will be signed as soon as the full service is ready to transfer.

A programme of communications with CWS staff is being implemented and this includes ongoing communications about the transformation agenda through newsletters, question and answer updates and information through the intranet and email. In addition, all CWS staff were issued with a welcome pack at the beginning of the year and a number of meet and greet sessions for all staff have been held at six regional locations as follows: Dublin, Cork, Sligo, Galway, Waterford and Limerick.

In relation to communications with the public and customers, a comprehensive external communications strategy is being prepared. This will provide relevant and timely information for all stakeholders and key customer groups on changes to service delivery as they are implemented.

Until the end of June CWS staff continued to provide appeals and means-testing services in relation to medical cards and other health services. The HSE has now established an alternative system for providing these services.

An interim management structure has been put in place for the community welfare service. This will be finalised as part of the full transfer.

As regards location, CWS staff will, on transfer, continue to be headquartered at their current base location or town. However, in the interests of improving customer service and reducing costs, opportunities for co-location with other departmental staff will be pursued as appropriate. This may involve staff of the Department moving to CWS locations or vice versa. Any changes that may be proposed in relation to geographical deployment will take account of the relevant provisions on staff deployment contained in the public service agreement 2010-14.

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