Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 250: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will review a decision to refuse an application for supplementary welfare assistance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19711/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme an exceptional needs payment may be made by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to help meet an essential, once-off cost which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources. The HSE has advised that an application from the person concerned for an exceptional needs payment to assist with funeral costs was refused as the need was deemed to have already been met. This decision was upheld by the HSE Appeals Office and the person concerned was informed of this in writing on 5 July 2011.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 251: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason appeals of social welfare decisions are taking up to six months and in excess of six months in some cases. [19713/11]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the measures she is taking to address the unacceptably long waiting times for social welfare appeals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19841/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 261 together.

I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that the overall average waiting time for an appeal dealt with by way of a summary decision in 2010 was 27.4 weeks, while the average time to process an oral hearing was 45.6 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.

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 in 2011. In an effort to reduce processing times, the Department has made 9 additional appointments to the office in recent weeks. 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. In addition, since July 2010, 8 retired Appeals Officers, equating to a 3 further full-time officers, have been assisting on a strictly part-time basis with the backlogs of appeals and it is intended that they will be employed until the end of the year

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals conducts its business under constant ongoing review and the processes are continuously being enhanced to achieve better outputs, in particular to reduce the backlogs in the Office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals.

In that regard some 3,000 cases, registered prior to 31/12/10, have been ring fenced and a team of 10 of the Office's most experienced Appeals Officers have been freed from all other work in the Office and will concentrate on clearing this backlog. This project commenced on July 1st.