Written answers

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Departmental Staff

10:00 pm

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action she is taking to augment staffing levels in her Department to deal with the increased demand from the growing number of new entrants onto the live register. [39554/08]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps she is taking to ensure that her Department is meeting the extra demand placed on its services as a result of rising unemployment. [39500/08]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 120 together.

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 jobseeker's payment, one-parent family payment and an information service.

The Department has put a range of measures in place to deal with the extra workload arising from the increase in the Live Register. These include:

additional posts assigned;

use of temporary staff to fill vacancies pending the appointment of permanent staff;

extension of temporary staff contracts in certain offices;

increased overtime;

prioritisation of work;

These measures are being reviewed on a continuous basis.

Following on a recent review of the staffing levels in Local Offices an additional 115 staff are to be assigned to some 48 offices.

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.

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