Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide details on the programme for Government's commitment to divert staff from elsewhere in the public service to clear the social welfare appeals backlog, including the number, when and from where these staff will be diverted. [6007/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The need for additional resources to deal with a very significant increase in the number of appeals received by the Social Welfare Appeals Office has been recognised by my Department. The annual intake of appeals has increased from 14,070 in 2007 to 32,432 in 2010, an increase of 18,362 (130.5%) and currently it appears that another 30,000 will be received during 2011.

In this context, 9 additional appointments have been made to the office in recent weeks. 3 of these appointments are permanent assignments and 6 are temporary assignments for a period of 2 years, subject to review. These assignments will augment the 3 appointments made to the Office in 2010, bringing the total number of Appeals Officers serving in the office to 29.

The Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2010 facilitated the use of experienced retired former Appeals Officers, on a strictly temporary basis to assist in bringing the backlogs under control. As a result, 8 of these officers have been employed since July of last year giving the equivalent of an additional 3 full time staff. Because of the quasi-judicial nature and complexity of the work there can be a relatively long lead-in time before new Appeals Officers become fully competent to deal with the full range of cases coming to the Office. In that regard and to ensure there is no loss of output during the period of training of the newly appointed Officers, these retired former Appeals Officers will continue to assist in the Office until the end of this year. In line with the commitment in the Programme for Government, the matter of providing further additional staff will be kept under continuous review.

In conjunction with the provision of extra staff, the Chief Appeals Officer is undertaking a review of the current operating model 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.