David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 324: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 1006 of 27 January 2009, the expected savings to the Exchequer which will accrue in a full year as a result of the transfer of income support and maintenance schemes and the community welfare service from the Department of Health and Children to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3395/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The transfer of income support and maintenance schemes and the community welfare service from the HSE to the Department arises from a decision to remove non core functions from the health sector. In addition to alleviating pressure on the health sector the transfer of functions will allow for the supplementary welfare allowance and other schemes to be managed within one entity. This will lead to a more efficient and coordinated approach to customer service needs, improved consistency in the delivery of the schemes and improved control management procedures.

The aim is to fully integrate the community welfare service into the Department on a phased basis. By introducing new work procedures the existing level of duplication of work effort by staff can be reduced. The efficiencies achieved in this way will increase the capacity of the Department to deploy resources to higher quality work such as customer case management. There are increasing pressures on the social welfare system at present arising from the downturn in the economy and it is important that we maximise the use of available resources. It is in the area of improved customer service and better coordination that the potential exists to achieve efficiency savings. It is not possible at this stage to quantify the exact level of efficiency savings that will arise because of the range of factors involved.