Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 118: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she is satisfied that the current methods employed by her Department to detect fraud and error on welfare payments is maximising expenditure savings in this area.. [34390/09]

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she has satisfied herself that she will reach the savings target she has set herself for 2009 by the end of 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34304/09]

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position in relation to fraud control measures put in place by her; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34257/09]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps she is taking to improve the level of information sharing in her Department in order that the number and scale of overpayments can be reduced significantly. [34391/09]

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 149: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the Comptroller and Auditor General's report that stricter controls and more accountability are needed to eliminate high levels of fraud and errors in the welfare system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34246/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 118, 127, 140, 143 and 149 together.

The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department. A key objective of the Department's control strategy is to ensure that the right person is paid the right amount of money at the right time.

The Department processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and it makes payments to over one million people every week. The vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them.

Where overpayments occur the Department seeks to recover the overpayments and in cases of serious fraud, the Department will use all legal avenues open to it to recover the money defrauded and seek redress.

A four-pronged control strategy has been adopted by the Department, namely prevention of fraud and error at the initial claim stage, early detection through effective review of claims in payment, measures to deter fraud and the pursuit and recovery of overpayments.

Key elements of the Department's control strategy include systematic risk analysis, surveys of the levels of fraud and error within schemes, scheme specific review policies, data matching initiatives with both external and internal parties and investigation of anonymous reports. These control tools ensure that review activity is targeted in the most effective man Key elements of the Department's control strategy include systematic risk analysis, surveys of the levels of fraud and error within schemes, scheme specific review policies, data matching initiatives with both external and internal parties and investigation of anonymous reports. These control tools ensure that review activity is targeted in the most effective manner and ensure that where overpayments arise they are detected as early as possible.

Over 620 staff at local, regional and national level are engaged on a full or part-time basis on work related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. About half of these work full time on control work, while the other half are responsible for routine investigations under the various schemes and for following up suspected cases of fraud where these are discovered.

The rapidly changing economic environment with large increases in the levels of unemployed poses challenges for the prevention and effective management of fraud and control.

The Department's response to these challenges has been to introduce new measures to target control activity at high risk categories of claimants.

For example:

Control activity is being focused on the prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage.

The Special Investigation Unit is undertaking more regular interviews of jobseeker recipients, particularly those with high risk ratings.

As a preventative measure the option to receive payments by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) was removed for new claimants for jobseeker payments. They must attend in person at the post office each week thus confirming their continued residency in the country. Their claim is automatically suspended where two consecutive payments are not collected.

Border regions have put an increased emphasis on controls on claims from applicants with a previous address in Northern Ireland.

One Parent Family Payment recipients with earnings are targeted for on-going review.

The frequency of issue of mail shots to validate continued entitlement to Child Benefit has been increased to 3 monthly intervals for EU worker customers and resident non-Irish national customers.

The number of anonymous reports from members of the public has increased dramatically in the past year, with over 4,600 reports made at end September 2009 compared to approximately 1000 reports made in 2008. Each report is followed-up.

The Department is moving to a risk-based system which will achieve better value for money by focusing scarce resources on the most appropriate cases. For example for Disability Allowance, a new control review policy for the scheme was introduced in January 2009 which involves assigning and recording a risk rating at the award and review stage of all claims in the medical and means categories. A similar risk based control review policy is being piloted for Carer's Allowance with the same approach planned for Invalidity Pension.

New data matches have been initiated to effectively target reviews and generate savings. In 2009 data was received from The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, The Commission for Taxi Regulation, The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and Local Authorities. In addition agreement has recently been reached with The Revenue Commissioners for data on capital assets.

In relation to savings, at the end of August 2009, the Department recorded control savings of nearly €312m, which is 78% of the year to date target of €398m. The annual control target for 2009 is €616.5m. It is difficult to project what the control savings for 2009 will be at this point but it is unlikely that the Department will reach the control savings target of €616.5m.

It must be noted that control activity is currently being focused on prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage. Savings made from the detection of bogus claims at application stage cannot be estimated as the claim will not go into payment. However, this is the most cost effective mechanism of reducing losses through fraud and error in social welfare schemes.

The significant increase in the live register has impacted on the Department's capacity to review claims. The increase has put pressure on staffing resources and particularly on social welfare inspectors who are responsible both for carrying out means-tests on initial applicants and conducting anti-fraud inspections. Additional staff are being assigned to front line work, including an increased number of inspectors.

In relation to information sharing, the department is involved in a number of data matching exercises which are very effective in identifying high risk claims for review and is an example of good cross-departmental co-operation.

Every month commencement of employment data from Revenue is matched against the Department's schemes and investigations are conducted where warranted. Earnings data supplied by the Revenue Commissioners is accessed by staff at both claim application and review stage. All cases identified on the COE notifications are examined to determine whether there has been willful concealment of information by the customer. Where there has been concurrent working and claiming f or 12 weeks or more or where the overpayment exceeds €2,000 such cases will be considered for prosecution.

Other examples of data-matching initiatives include:

Department of Justice:

The Irish Prison Service provides lists of prison inmates quarterly . The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal Data provides data on compensation payments made and The Courts Service have provided on-line access for information on the probate index of issued grants.

Control Division has also assisted the Central Authority for Mutual Assistance on a number of enquires. These enquiries resulted in this department supplying details on individuals where cases are being prepared for prosecution in agencies outside Ireland and the crimes involve a range of unlawful activity including money laundering and drug trafficking.

The Department of Education & Science:

Third level institutions are obliged to supply the Department with details of students registered for full-time daytime education. The student details are matched against the Jobseekers, Illness Benefit and Health Board databases.

The Department of Agriculture & Food:

Data is received from the Department of Agriculture & Food on total grant payments issued to farmers.

The Department of Transport:

The Commission for Taxi Regulation (CTR) supplies data on active taxi/ hackney licence holders.

Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government:

The Private Rental Tenancies Board provides information on registered landlords.

The General Register's Office:

The automation of the office with on-line access now available to staff in this Department regarding births, deaths and marriages is proving very effective for control of fraud and abuse purposes.

A number of control initiatives involve case by case searches. This Department works closely with Department of Social Development in Northern Ireland and The Department of Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom. Cases are checked to ensure that there were no open claims in the Republic of Ireland while also claiming in another jurisdiction.

The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them. In this regard the control programme of my Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are continuously refined to ensure that they remain effective.