Written answers

Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Departmental Staff

8:00 am

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the locations at which job facilitators are based; the social welfare offices that do not have a job facilitator; the average waiting time to access a job facilitator; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23207/09]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Facilitators work closely with Fás and other agencies at national and local level, to identify appropriate training and developmental programmes social welfare recipients of working age to enhance the skills those individuals have and ultimately improve their employment chances as well as help them continue to develop personally. The facilitator service is available locally to all social welfare recipients via the local office network. When a person wishes to see a facilitator, the relevant facilitator is notified, and an appointment is scheduled for the person. The locations where facilitators are based are set out in the attached table.

In the current economic climate the demand for the facilitator service is elevated and waiting times to see a facilitator may vary nationwide. Actual waiting times for individual facilitators are not available. Facilitators make every effort to contact all interested recipients as quickly as possible. Additional resources provided to the facilitator network under the NDP are helping to ensure that the facilitator service is more responsive to the needs of customers. Locations of Facilitators Region Dublin North - Ballymun; Blanchardstown; Coolock; Finglas; Kilbarrack; Navan Road; North Cumberland Street; Swords. Dublin South - Ballyfermot; Bishop's Square; Clondalkin; Dunlaoghaire; Maynooth; Nutgrove; Tallaght; Thomas Street. North East - Cavan; Drogheda; Dundalk; Longford; Monaghan; Mullingar; Navan. North West - Buncrana; Donegal Town; Dungloe; Letterkenny; Sligo. Mid West - Clonmel; Ennis; Limerick; Portlaoise; Tullamore. South East - Bray; Carlow; Kilkenny; Newbridge; Waterford; Wexford. Southern - Cork City; Killarney; Mallow; Tralee. Western - Athlone; Ballina; Castlebar; Galway; Tuam.

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of staff deployed to social welfare offices to deal with the increase in social welfare applications; the total number in situ; the location of these staff; the length of time it takes to train staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23208/09]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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During the period May to December 2008 an additional 158 staff were assigned to local offices to deal with the increased volume of claims. With the exception of Cork local office all but two of these staff are now in place and arrangements are in train to assign the outstanding 2 staff. In the case of Cork local office, some of the additional posts are been covered by way of temporary staff, until permanent staff are assigned. A number of offices have a particularly high volume of claims awaiting a decision. In order to deal with this, 32 additional temporary staff were recruited with effect from 2 March 2009 to support these offices. Details of the locations of the additional local office staff are set out in Table 1 attached.

At the beginning of June it was decided to recruit a further 55 temporary staff for various local offices around the country, pending the reassignment of permanent staff from other departments. As many local offices are very close to capacity as regards accommodating further staff, the Department has established a number of central decision units around the country. Five such units have been set up in Dublin, Sligo, Finglas, Carrick-on-Shannon and Roscommon, which will comprise of a total of 57 staff. Currently 49 of these staff are in place. Work has recently commenced on setting up further units in Tallaght and Wexford.

There is a significant training overhead associated with staff coming into local offices due to the complex nature of the jobseekers schemes. This is particularly so when a person is coming from another department and may not have any Social Welfare background whatsoever. While a certain amount of formal training is provided, the bulk of the training is "on-the-job". It takes many months for a deciding officer to get up to speed with all the various aspects of the schemes administered in local offices. In the meantime they rely on assistance from their more experienced colleagues to guide them in the learning process. Consequently, there is a certain amount of lost productivity while new staff acquire the necessary expertise of experienced deciding officers.

In addition, 16 Social Welfare Inspectors were allocated and 15 of these staff have been assigned to various locations throughout the country to undertake means testing and other work associated with processing claims for the jobseekers allowance. Details of the locations of the additional inspectors are set out in Table 2 attached. The outstanding assignment will be made in the coming weeks. Also, arrangements are now in train to assign a further 24 inspectors throughout the country. Table 1

Local OfficeAdditionalstaff assignedTemporarystaff assignedTOTAL
Cork1212
Limerick9211
Newbridge8210
Waterford99
Galway9211
Bishops Square426
Clondalkin55
Dun Laoghaire426
Tallaght55
Navan426
Blanchardstown527
Bray325
Coolock33
Drogheda426
Cumberland St33
Nutgrove33
Tralee33
Wexford66
Kilkenny325
Ennis44
Carlow325
Finglas33
Letterkenny33
Tullamore325
Newcastlewest33
Sligo33
Cavan224
Longford224
Ballyfermot,224
Clonmel22
Kilbarrack22
Navan Rd22
Swords22
Athlone22
Buncrana22
Dundalk22
Mullingar22
Arklow22
Apollo11
Ballymun,11
Loughrea,123
Thomas St11
Ballina11
Carrick -on-Shannon11
Castlebar11
Dungloe11
Listowel11
Thurles11
TOTAL15832190

Table 2

Additional Inspectors AssignedNumber
Finglas2
Tallaght1
Clondalkin1
Mullingar1
Drogheda1
Buncrana1
Letterkenny1
Galway1
Castlebar1
Tullamore1
Limerick1
Cork1
Tralee1
Carlow1
Enniscorthy1
Total16

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