David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of reports of alleged social welfare fraud received by her each month since January 2010; the procedures for investigation of such reports; the number of reports of alleged fraud which were investigated; the number of claims which were found to be fraudulent by her and the number of claims which were suspended as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6158/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of the Department. 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.

The Department's Control Policy aims to minimise fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. As part of this policy, Central Control Section accepts reports of possible fraud offered by members of the public in relation to the Department's schemes. All reports are followed up and are dealt with in confidence. Reports can be made as follows and details of each are given in the table below:

By email: www.welfare.ie

· By phone: (01) 704 3000, ask for Central Control Section or (071) 9672648 or Locall: 1890 927999.

By Post: Central Control Division, DSP, Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

Note: Reports are also made directly to scheme sections and to Social Welfare Local Offices, which are not included here.

In 2010, a total of 9,758 cases of suspected fraud were sent by Central Control Section to the relevant area for examination. To end of February 2011, a total of 1,683 reports have been sent. It was not possible to pursue 2,890 of the anonymous reports received in 2010 due to insufficient information provided or where no claim was in payment. In other instances information reported would not impact on entitlement. For the first 2 months of 2011, it was not possible to follow up on 448 such reports. The number of anonymous reports received by Central Control Section from members of the public has increased in recent years as set out in the table below:

Anonymous Reports: Received for January 2010 – February 2011

All anonymous or confidential reports are examined and where relevant, are referred to scheme owners and/or to the Department's inspectors for follow-up action. A payment is not suspended or stopped solely on the basis of an anonymous report. The anonymous report, however, may be a "trigger" for of a review of a customer's entitlement. A social welfare inspector may then deem it appropriate to carry out a full review of the circumstances and means of the customer in order to determine ongoing entitlement to the relevant payment. The inspector will then submit a report to the department's deciding officer for decision regarding ongoing entitlement to the social welfare payment.

Anonymous reports are not available to the deciding officers when making their decisions on cases. Their decision will be based on the full facts and circumstances of the case, including the report of the review by the inspector. Therefore, statistics on the outcome of the anonymous report was not available.