Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 706: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount spent by his Department on opinion polling and focus group research in each of the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1179/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Department provides a wide range of supports and services to a large and diverse customer base. As part of a customer consultation framework the Department seeks participation from customers to assist in developing policies and service delivery mechanisms. This is supported through customer panels, as well as meetings with customer representative groups and those engaged in welfare information services.

The customer panel focus group meetings are informal meetings between officers of the Department and randomly selected customers. Presentations are given on changes to schemes and services and this is followed by an open questions and answer session, where the views and opinions of customers are sought.

Customer representative group meetings are held regularly and provide a forum for engagement with stakeholders of the Department who represent a broad range of customers such as older people, unemployed, carers and disability groups etc. The format is similar to the customer panel meetings and provides an opportunity to seek the views of these groups on how we can improve service delivery.

The costs associated with hosting these fora for the period 2007 to 2010 are outlined in the table below.

In addition, submissions are sought from the public from time to time on particular initiatives, for example, the Pensions Green Paper, which may incur advertising and other related costs. These costs, and any customer survey costs incurred, are currently being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy directly.

The Department values the views of customers and will continue to consult with them to get feedback on the quality of services delivered and to increase people's awareness of the Department's schemes and services. I am satisfied that the amount spent on obtaining customer feedback is closely monitored and kept to a minimum and these focus groups are essential research tools in improving service delivery.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 707: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of mobile telephones paid for by public bodies under his remit in each of the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010; the total cost of paying mobile telephone bills in each of those years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1194/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Most of the public bodies under my remit have their own budgets and pay bills such as those for mobile telephones, so the information sought by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department. However, the information is being collated and I will communicate it to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 708: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of mobile telephones paid for by his Department in each of the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010; the total cost of paying mobile telephone bills in each of those years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1209/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

For the periods in question, total mobile phone costs for my Department were as follows:

2007 €427,858

2008 €458,386

2009 €477,940

2010 €339,460

1,056 members of staff have mobile phones supplied and paid for.

The nature of the work of these staff requires them to attend on site in various locations both Departmental and non-Departmental for example in the case of inspectors and those involved in fraud control work and those required to be available outside of core office hours. The Department currently has contracts in place with Vodafone and O2 for the provision of mobile phone services which were tendered for under the central mobile phone framework. Larger contracts on a business rate lead to reduced overall costs and most internal mobile calls do not incur any additional cost.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 709: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of money set aside or the amount he intends to spend in the current year on the rent allowance scheme and the total spent on the scheme in 2009 [1254/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The information requested is supplied in the following tabular statement.

Tabular Statement

RENT SUPPLEMENT EXPENDITURE 2009 - 2011