Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 361: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a decision on an application will issue in respect of a person (details supplied), County Kerry. [22279/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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An application for domiciliary care allowance was received on 24th June 2011. The application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for a medical opinion. A decision will issue to the person concerned when the Medical Assessor's opinion is received.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 362: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a full list of all social welfare payment schemes and the number of claimants in receipt of each payment; the number of undecided applications for each payment current on file; the average time it takes to process payments for each scheme; the average time it takes to hear appeals for each scheme and the percentage of appeals granted per scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22282/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statements.

Table 1 gives the full list of recipients of weekly social welfare payments at the end of June by payment scheme.

Table 2 gives undecided applications and the average time to award applications for the main schemes within my Department in June 2011.

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.

Table 3 gives the average processing times for appeals, by scheme. Figures for the percentage of appeals granted per scheme are not readily available but overall figures for 2010 are attached in Table 4.

Table 3 gives the average processing times for appeals, by scheme. Figures for the percentage of appeals granted per scheme are not readily available but overall figures for 2010 are attached in Table 4.

Table 1: Social Welfare Payment Schemes and number of recipients

* Disability Allowance figure is for May 2011

Table 2: Number of undecided applications and the average time to award an application for the main schemes

* Due to a change in IT systems and reporting mechanisms data for State Pension Non-Contributory June 2011 is not readily available. This figure is based on an average year to date.

Table 3: Average processing times (in weeks) for appeals

Table 4: Percentage of appeals granted per scheme