Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 86: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his department has made efforts to prevent fraud through the EFT system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11899/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's policy is to ensure that a range of payment options is available to customers and that service is continually improved by providing access to the wide range of payment options and new services and facilities now available.

Current payment methods include payment at post offices by means of pension order books, electronic or manual post draft issued to the customer's designated post office each week, payment by cheque to the home address of customers and direct payment to customers' bank or building society accounts by electronic fund transfer. Where possible, my Department provides a payment option which best suits the needs of customers.

The growth in the last number of years of customers opting for EFT payments reflects the changing profile of my Department's customer base, the increasing use of electronic banking services in society generally and the extension of an EFT payment facility to more of my Department's schemes.

The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the work of my Department. In this regard all staff engaged in claims processing are concerned with preventing and detecting fraud and abuse. During 2004, some 306,000 reviews of entitlements were carried out by staff in my Department including reviews of entitlements of customers paid by EFT. The records of some 6,600 employers were inspected to ensure compliance with the Department's regulations and, in particular, to prevent and detect abuses of the system. These activities resulted in savings of €386 million in 2004.

Systematic risk analysis is a key element of the control strategy. This entails the identification, by scheme managers, of areas of high risk of fraud and abuse in the schemes for which they are responsible and putting in place appropriate measures to address them in a systematic way. Any particular risks arising from making payments through EFT would be addressed in this context. The benefit of the risk analysis approach is that review activity can be targeted in the most effective manner.

My Department also includes baseline surveys of the levels of fraud and error as an integral part of its control strategy to identify the types of claims which should be prioritised for review purposes. It is committed to doing at least two such surveys annually. My Department undertook a number of specific control initiatives during 2004 with a view to establishing criteria for risk evaluation. Four projects addressed EFT payments. The outcomes of these are being evaluated and they will contribute towards best practice in this area for the future.