Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action she will take to ensure that waiting times at branch offices are reduced when she has no control over staffing levels; if there is a mechanism in place to share workload with nearby local offices; and the options open to her to insist on better processing times, higher staff numbers and so on at branch offices. [6829/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department delivers a frontline service through a network of 62 local offices and 62 branch offices. Staff in local offices are employees of the Department while branch offices are operated by private individuals on a contract basis. Under the terms of their contract, branch managers are required to review their staffing levels to ensure that the meeting service requirements and that they allow for the efficient performance of the work of the office. Staffing levels in a branch office are reviewed by the management of its parent local office as part of the branch manager's performance assessment.

All decisions on branch office claims are made in the parent local office. The increase in the number of people applying for unemployment payments have placed particular pressures on all officers. Staff in social welfare offices have been working extremely hard to process claims as quickly as possible.

Productivity has increased significantly. Nearly 155,000 claims were processed in Local Offices in the last quarter of 2008 (including the One Parent Family Payment). This compares with less than 89,000 in the last quarter of 2007, representing an increase of 74%.

I appreciate that becoming unemployed is a very difficult time in a persons life and that they need to get access to financial and other supports as quickly as possible. I assure the Deputy that every effort is being made to reduce processing times.

A range of measures have been put in place by the Department to deal with the extra workload arising from the increase in the live register. Over 202 staff have been or are been assigned to local offices and further staff will be deployed in the coming months as required. In addition temporary staff contracts have been used in certain offices, the level of overtime worked has increased and the work in the offices is being prioritised.

Plans are under way to establish a number of central decisions units countrywide, commencing with Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, Finglas and a Dublin city centre location. These units will ease the pressure to local and branch offices and will help speed up decision making.

The Department has also implemented a number of process improvement initiatives aimed at improving overall processing times for the jobseeker schemes. In addition, from time to time Regional Management in the Department send a team of staff from other local offices, to decide claims in an office under particular pressure.

The situation regarding applications for jobseekers benefit and jobseekers allowance is being monitored on an on-going basis by the Department to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to address the issue.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in regard to departmental staff and bodies under the remit of her Department, she will provide details of those remuneration arrangements which are currently in excess of a benchmarking recommendation or a recommendation from the review body on higher remuneration or which are subject to a personal rate; the position and grade the person is currently holding in each case; and the rationale for making a higher payment than that recommended in each case. [6845/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are no staff in my Department, or the Agencies under its aegis, who are remunerated at a rate that is in excess of a benchmarking recommendation or a recommendation from the Review Body on Higher Remuneration. All the staff in question are paid on the appropriate civil/public service payscales, as sanctioned by the Department of Finance.