Written answers

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Departmental Expenditure

11:00 pm

Photo of Seymour CrawfordSeymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 565: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of money her Department spent on promoting family income supplement; if the money being spent on this promotion is justified in view of the fact that there is up to an eight month backlog in dealing with applications due to a lack of personnel to deal with same; her views on whether the best way to promote a scheme is by word of mouth from those who obtain a good and prompt service; when the backlog will be dealt with; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22827/08]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department aims to ensure that all citizens are made aware of their rights and entitlements and that they are kept informed of changes and improvements in schemes and services as they occur. The provision of information in a clear and accessible manner is an essential element in the achievement of this objective.

The Department uses a mix of advertising media including national and provincial newspapers, radio and television, information leaflets, fact sheets, posters and direct mailshots to ensure that people are aware of their social welfare entitlements and are notified about improvements and changes affecting their payments and services.

Expenditure in the region of €300,000 was incurred in a FIS awareness campaign in 2006. The campaign included TV, radio, newspaper and poster advertising.

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) received funding of over €7,500 in December 2007 and €2,200 in June 2008 under the Department's Information Grants Scheme to produce and distribute Family Income Supplement posters and leaflets. A total of 1,500 posters and 31,000 leaflets were printed in English, Irish, Polish, Russian, Chinese and Portuguese. Electronic copies were also available in French, Arabic, Romanian, Spanish.

The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. The staff and other resources available to the Department are regularly reviewed having regard to the workload arising and other competing demands. The available resources are then used to discharge the Department's obligations towards its customers and in implementing cost effective controls to prevent and detect fraud and abuse.

The volume of family income supplement (FIS) claims on hands awaiting finalisation and the delays in processing are a consequence of increased scheme take up following improvements made to qualifying income thresholds in recent budgets and the publicity campaigns promoting the scheme. There is a backlog of some 4,700 claims awaiting finalisation at present. The Department has introduced a number of measures to improve claim processing for FIS and to deal with arrears of work.

A review of existing processes and procedures has been undertaken with the explicit objective of reducing delays in claim processing. Priority is being given to claims where a claim is being renewed to ensure continuity of payment. The ongoing staffing requirement was recently reviewed in light of the increased volumes of claims. Overtime working is being judiciously applied and 5 extra temporary staff have been recruited to help eliminate the backlog

Good progress is being made on foot of these measures and it is expected the backlog will be substantially cleared in the coming months. The position is being closely monitored by the Department.

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