John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will expedite a decision on an application for back to school clothing and footwear allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11. [24580/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) scheme operates from the beginning of June until the end of September each year.

The administrative arrangements for the 2011 BSCFA scheme differ from those that applied in previous years. For this year, the majority of BSCFA entitlements were fully automated with no application form required from customers, 127,000 households in respect of over 250,000 children received their payment automatically in June.

Those customers who did not receive an automated payment are required to complete and return an application form to the Department. The timescale for determining applications for Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance claims is dependent on a number of factors including: the number of applications received, when the application is lodged, the availability of the required information such as details of the applicant's income, bank statements and other relevant information regarding an individual's application.

In addition, some aspects of the applications are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where further investigations or third party evidence is required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information. Staff are working as quickly as possible on clearing the large volume of manual application claims received. Based on the current volume of applications it could take up to 7 weeks from date of receipt to process claims. Departmental records show that an application form was received from the person concerned on 2nd August 2011 and it is expected she will be notified of the outcome of her claim shortly.

Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 241: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding a domiciliary care allowance application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo; and if the processing of the application will be expedited. [24587/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received on 12th August 2011. This application has been forwarded to one of the Department's Medical Assessors for their medical opinion. Upon receipt of this opinion a decision will issue to the customer. Currently it takes approximately eight weeks to process an application.