Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1279: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the staffing consequences within her Department, and in particular in local employment exchanges, due to rising unemployment figures and backlogs and delays which are emerging in dealing with individual claims; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29575/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department delivers a front-line service through a network of 61 Local Offices and 64 Branch Offices countrywide. The main services provided from these offices include jobseekers payment, one-parent family payment and an information service.

The staffing levels in Local Offices are reviewed from time to time. Following on the most recent reviews as a consequence of the increasing Live Register, an additional 31 posts have been allocated to some 15 offices. This will not give rise to any curtailment of services in other areas of the Department.

In the past few years the Department has coped with increasing demands arising from significant changes to the social welfare code and in the numbers of persons accessing services. Operational procedures and the organisation of work continue to be reviewed and restructured to maximise the benefits of technology and new developments in processing techniques and business information.

The department monitors the fluctuations in the live register on an ongoing basis in order to address any customer service issues.