Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 296: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare has an automatic entitlement to back to school clothing and footwear allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24886/11]

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.

A person may qualify for a BSCFA payment if he or she is in receipt of a social welfare or health service executive payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education or training course, and has household income at or below certain specified levels.

The persons concerned were refused BSCFA as their income exceeded the limit allowable for their family composition. If the persons concerned are unhappy with the decision they should forward a letter to the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Review Section at PO Box 131, Letterkenny, setting out why they are not happy with the decision and asking that the claim be reviewed. Due to the large volume of applications received, information regarding the progress of individual reviews will not be available until such time as all applications have been examined and a decision taken.

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 297: To ask the Minister for Social Protection when a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will receive their back to school allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24896/11]

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.

A person may qualify for a BSCFA payment if he or she is in receipt of a social welfare or health service executive payment, is participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education or training course, and has household income at or below certain specified levels. The BSCFA section has advised that there is no record of an application from the person concerned.

The administrative arrangements for the 2011 Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme differ from those that applied in previous years. For this year, the majority of Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance entitlements was fully automated with no application form required from customers. Those customers who did not receive an automated payment are required to complete an application form that is available for download from www.welfare.ie or by texting "Form BTSCFA", followed by their name and address to 51909.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Customer service is at the centre of my Department's strategies and business. Processing times vary across schemes because of both the volume of applications and the differing qualification criteria. For example, means assessments are required for all of the social assistance schemes; medical examinations are required for some of the illness related schemes and customers must also satisfy the habitual residence conditions. In the case of the insurance-based schemes, it may be necessary to ascertain details of foreign insurance records.

All scheme areas in the Department are subject to continuous business process improvement supported by modern technology. In addition, the staffing needs of my Department are kept under constant review to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.

In excess of 900 staff have been assigned to my Department since May 2008, to fill critical vacancies and additional posts that were approved to deal with the significant increase in claims for the various schemes operated by my Department.

One of the main impacts on current service delivery has been the increase in the Live Register. In this context, my Department has introduced a range of process improvement initiatives regarding claims for jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit. One of the most significant initiatives, aimed at reducing queuing and waiting times, involves customers attending their local office by appointment at which time the claim is taken and decided.This provides for the appropriate appointment to be scheduled for the customer thus enabling certain claims to be dealt with in a single visit to the office.

Process improvements have resulted in a significant reduction in the number and proportion of all claims awaiting a decision. For example, there were 35,329 jobseeker's claims awaiting a decision on 10 September 2011 equating to 7% of the total claim-load. This compares favourably to 11 September 2010 when 44,717 claims or 9% of claim-load were awaiting decision and 69,074 claims or 14% of claim-load in September 2009.

The Department's eGovernment strategy aims to support and develop customer contact channels that maximise customer service and minimise cost of delivery and recent years have seen significant investment in the provision of improved information and online services, resulting in increased customer awareness of their entitlements and more efficient claim processing procedures.

The Department's website www.welfare.ie, redesigned in 2008, provides comprehensive information on all the Department's schemes and services as well as a range of online services which include online claiming for State Pension Contributory, Household Benefits, Child Benefit, Jobseeker's payments and Widow(er)'s and Surviving Civil Partner's Contributory Pension. It is planned to extend the online claiming service in 2011/2012 to include Carer's Allowance, Disability Allowance, State Pension (Non-Contributory) and Redundancy Payments and Insolvency Payments. The range of online services on the website also includes

- dedicated pages for each local and branch office, containing contact details, maps and notice boards

- social insurance record request service

- statement (of benefit paid) request service

- sign-off service for jobseekers

- anonymous reporting of suspected social welfare fraud

- form and leaflet request service

The Department has also recently introduced a pilot initiative allowing certain customers to sign on for their Jobseeker's payment online.

As well as online services, the Department operates an SMS (text messaging) service through which customer can request applications forms and leaflets and also request statements of benefit paid.