Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 254: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps he proposes to take to eliminate the backlog of appeals for various payments operated by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44063/10]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 257: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the action he will take to address the ever increasing number of appeals now piling up in his Department and seriously affecting many households throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44066/10]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 258: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the monetary value of all social welfare claims now on appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44067/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 254, 257 and 258 together.

I am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that, as of 15 November 2010, there were 20,344 cases being processed through various stages of the appeals system. It is not possible to give the monetary value involved in these cases.

There has been a significant increase in the numbers of appeals being made to the Social Welfare Appeals Office. Currently it is anticipated that some 33,000 appeals will be received for 2010, which is compared to roughly 15,000 a year in the years up to and including 2007. The scale of the increase has resulted in significant delays in the processing of appeals.

Overall, the average time taken to process a summary decision is 28 weeks, while the average time to process an oral hearing is 44.5 weeks. These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation and include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department's Inspectors and Medical Assessors that is deemed necessary.

A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process. During 2009, 59% of all appeal cases were dealt with by way of oral hearing but, due to some of the initiatives outlined below, this has been reduced to 31% in 2010 to date. In order to be fair to all appellants, the vetting of appeals and the arranging of oral hearings are dealt with in chronological order.

Since January 2009, 3 additional Appeals Officers have been assigned to the Office, as well as 4 additional staff to the administration area. In addition, it was decided to use experienced retired Appeals Officers strictly on a short term basis to supplement the current resources and eight of these officers have been operating on a part-time basis since July. In addition to the provision of more staff, more emphasis is now being placed on dealing with appeals on a summary basis so as to increase productivity, a project to improve the business processes in the office was undertaken which has resulted in a number of improvements being implemented and significant enhancements have been made to the office's IT and phone systems.

As a result of all of these initiatives, a total of 22,995 appeals have been finalised until the end of October in comparison to 14,278 in the same period in 2009.

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping current processes under continuous review with a view to achieving a more effective throughput of appeals, while ensuring that any progress does not conflict with due process in terms of the rights of appellants and adherence to the requirements of natural justice.