Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 317: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the increase in the number of staff employed in social welfare offices to deal with any backlog due to the increase on the live register; the number of people who are part of this backlog in Cork city and county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3015/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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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. In addition the Department is implementing a number of process improvement initiatives aimed at improving overall processing times for the jobseeker schemes.

Because of the increased number of claims for jobseeker payments, the Department undertook a review of staffing levels in Local Offices in May and June of last year. This resulted in the assignment of an additional 31 staff to some 15 Local Offices. Following the most recent review of the staffing levels in Local Offices late last year, an additional 115 staff are being assigned. In addition, a separate exercise was undertaken for the Cork and Carrigaline Local Offices which identified the need for an additional 12 staff. Arrangements are in train to assign the additional resources required. Pending the appointment of the permanent staff 6 temporary staff have been assigned. The following table shows the number of claims awaiting a decision in each office in the Cork Region.